The European Union has accused X, formerly known as Twitter, of employing deceptive 'dark patterns' to mislead users. These practices have been found to violate the EU's new social media regulations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Dark patterns are user interface designs that are crafted to manipulate users into taking actions that may not be in their best interest. These patterns exploit cognitive biases and lack of user attention to guide users towards decisions that benefit the service provider.
