Tracing the History and Evolution of Dark Patterns on Twitter from 2010-2021

Designers’ use of deceptive and manipulative design practices have become increasingly ubiquitous, impacting users’ ability to make choices that respect their agency and autonomy. These practices have been popularly defined through the term dark patterns , which has gained attention from designers, privacy scholars, and, more recently, legal scholars and regulators. The increased interest in the concept of dark patterns across a range of practitioners and users motivated us to study the evolution of the concept and highlight the future trajectory of conversations around dark patterns and similar activist movements that utilize social computing platforms. In this article, we examine the history and evolution of the Twitter (currently known as X) discourse around #darkpatterns from its inception in June 2010 until April 2021, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to describe how this discourse has changed over time. We frame these conversations through a new concept of socio-technical activism , whereby participants unite to identify and fight back against problematic technology and design practices. We discuss the potential future trajectories of this discourse and opportunities for further social computing scholarship at the intersection of design, policy, and online activism.