Previous studies have shown that companies behind applications and websites are using strategic ways of manipulating and misleading their users, often through interface and design. This behavior is described in terms of dark patterns. The main reason for these deceptive ways is to trick users into doing things they may not intended to do from the beginning, for example sharing of personal data and exposing more of their privacy than what is needed for the purpose of the service. Dating through different applications has become a more common way to find love. What these apps usually have in common is the need for gathering personal data from their uses, and in many cases this includes sensitive personal data like sexual orientation. Because of this, the purpose of the study was to examine whether dating apps care for their user’s integrity or also use suspect ways to manipulate through structure, design and content. Five of the most used dating apps in Sweden were observed through a qualitative content analysis with a focus on aspects that are relevant in information architecture. The results showed that all of the apps were using design in manipulative ways and two of them even made it impossible to quit the account after registration. These discoveries really raises questions about whether it is ethical of companies to work in this way and if they care more about their own gain than their users’ integrity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-22451 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Nyström, Elvira, Olsson, Louise |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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