Guidelines 3/2022 on deceptive design patterns in social media platform interfaces: how to recognise and avoid them

What it covers

This document, adopted as a version for public consultation, provides practical guidance for designers and users of social media platforms on recognising and avoiding dark patterns that infringe GDPR requirements, covering the account life cycle from registration to closure and an annex categorising dark pattern types.

Why it matters

It gives concrete design-level criteria for assessing whether social media interfaces comply with fairness, transparency and data protection by design obligations, relevant to enforcement against manipulative interface practices.

Refer to it when

• reviewing a social media platform's sign-up or consent flow for manipulative design
• assessing a privacy notice or settings interface against dark pattern categories
• designing account closure or erasure functionality
• evaluating breach notification interfaces for fairness

Questions this document addresses

• What categories of dark patterns can infringe GDPR requirements?
• How does the fairness principle in Article 5 apply to interface design?
• What best practices help avoid dark patterns at each stage of the account life cycle?
• How should data protection by design under Article 25 be applied to social media interfaces?

Topics

• Deceptive design patterns
• Social media
• Transparency
• Data subject rights
• Data protection by design