Deceptive Patterns
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Cookies and Trust: Trust in organizations and the design of cookie consent prompts

Author
Thomas Mejtoft, Nike Vejbrink Starbrink, Carla Roos Morales, Ole Norberg, Mattias Andersson, Ulrik Söderström
Date
19 Sept 2023
Publisher
European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics
Focus
Privacy & Data Protection
Category
Academic Scholar

The results suggest that the design, rather than trust in the website’s organization, is crucial for users’ decisions to accept, decline, or manage cookies.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was passed in 2016 to regulate companies’ use and storage of personal data, such as cookies, which are a common feature of the modern internet used to track user’s activity and preferences. This paper aims to examine people’s perspectives on cookie consent prompts and the effects of using deceptive design in cookie consent prompts. The results suggest that the design, rather than trust in the website’s organization, is crucial for users’ decisions to accept, decline, or manage cookies. Honest design is emphasized, and the dangers of deceptive design in cookie consent prompts are highlighted.