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Staying at the Roach Motel: Cross-Country Analysis of Manipulative Subscription and Cancellation Flows | Making the cancellation process intentionally difficult is recognized as a dark pattern called Roach Motel
, but cancelling them can be arduous and confusing — causing many to resign and continue paying for services they no longer use. Making the cancellation process intentionally difficult is recognized as a dark pattern called Roach Motel.
Another direction for further research would be to study different types of subscriptions, such as streaming services, online games, and physical deliveries (e.g., cosmetic products, cleaning supplies, groceries, clothes). Finally, while we used the dark pattern taxonomy of Mathur et al. [ 59], future research may consult the comprehensive ontology presented in Gray et al.’s concurrent work [ 49] for a more nuanced, layered and standardized categorization. Our analysis showed that compared to their European counterparts, American news sites require more clicks to cancel, they request more information when subscribing, and they are more likely to present mandatory exit surveys.
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