Deceptive Patterns
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Patrones Oscuros: a Browser Extension for detecting Dark Patterns in Spanish

Author
Leonardo Germán Loza Bonora, J. Grigera, Juan Cruz Gardey, Alejandra Garrido
Date
12 Apr 2026
Publisher
Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Dark Software Engineering
Focus
AI & Automation
Category
Academic Scholar

Dark patterns are deceptive interface design techniques that manipulate users into performing unwanted actions. Despite growing interest in research, automated detection tools overwhelmingly focus on English-language mobile applications, leaving web platforms and non-English languages largely unattended.

Dark patterns are deceptive interface design techniques that manipulate users into performing unwanted actions. Despite growing interest in research, automated detection tools overwhelmingly focus on English-language mobile applications, leaving web platforms and non-English languages largely unattended. We present a browser extension to detect six types of dark patterns, including Spanish-language websites, using a hybrid approach that combines natural language processing and DOM analysis. Our main contributions are: (1) a modular detection system that categorizes patterns according to the detection mechanism (language-based vs. structure-based), (2) a repository of examples of dark patterns in Spanish, and (3) an extensible browser extension that implements the automated detection.