A Juridicidade e a Regulamentação dos Dark Patterns

The evolution of audiovisual computer interfaces was an important milestone for the popularization of the internet without which it is impossible to conceive the use of this technology in modern society However the progress of these interfaces has not taken exclusively beneficial paths for humanity From the beginning of the 21st century onwards an increase in interface design patterns was observed that instead of facilitating navigation harmed users or restricted their decisionmaking capabilities earning them the name of Dark Patterns In view of this the present work aims to address whether Dark Patterns are legal or illegal in the face of Brazilian data protection and consumer law verifying in the absence of specific norms on Dark Patterns the best way to regulate them The research method employed is qualitative analyzing research court cases norms and national and foreign documents on Dark Patterns After addressing its effects its legal development and establishing a definition compatible with Brazilian law it was concluded that although some implementations are capable of producing damage and violating rights in some cases the mere declaration of the illegality of these techniques is an insufficient solution requiring further investigations regarding the hypotheses in which their negative impacts are less apparent or when they are used for beneficial purposes among other unsolved problems Therefore it is suggested that the regulation of Dark Patterns should occur through a system composed of formal laws and regulations of public administration bodies through a multidisciplinary approach that is adaptable to new findings and technologies