Deceptive Patterns
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Social Media Users Engaging with Matters of Ethical Concern ‘By Other Means’

Author
Ike Obi, Colin M. Gray, S. Chivukula, Jacob Duane, Janna Johns, Matthew Will
Date
16 Oct 2025
Publisher
Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact.
Focus
Historical & Cultural
Category
Academic Scholar

A case study analysis of two subreddits, r/privacy and r/assholedesign, is conducted to investigate the kinds of ethical concerns expressed within both subreddits, the strategies employed to express those concerns, the goals participants hoped to achieve through participation, and the community infrastructure these communities created to support their collective action against technology manipulation.

As deceptive design practices proliferate on technology platforms and increasingly threaten user agency and well-being, concerned online communities are using social media platforms to discuss and challenge these unethical practices. In this paper, we conducted a case study analysis of two subreddits, r/privacy and r/assholedesign, to investigate the kinds of ethical concerns expressed within both subreddits, the strategies employed to express those concerns, the goals participants hoped to achieve through participation, and the community infrastructure these communities created to support their collective action against technology manipulation.