Glenlead delivers solution session on deceptive design at the Nobel Prize Summit in Washington D.C.

Together with legislators, regulators, policymakers, and key stakeholders, Glenlead identifies issues and solutions in transatlantic workshop on deceptive design.

30 May 2023

On behalf of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, Glenlead’s Executive Director, Dr Ann Kristin Glenster, delivered a solution session workshop on deceptive design as part of the Nobel Prize Summit in Washington D.C. in May 2023. The theme of the Summit was Truth, Trust, and Hope, and this session focused on finding solutions to the proliferation of deceptive designs, which undermine public trust in the digital ecosystem.

The workshop was co-hosted by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) and the Electronic Information Center (EPIC) and was attended by legislators, regulators, policymakers, academics, and representatives from leading civil society organisations. 

The two-part session began with presentations by Dr Glenster, by Dr Harry Brignull (Head of Innovation at Smart Pension and founder of deceptive.design), Kat Zhou (Seinor Product Designer and Creator of <Design Ethically>, M.R. Leiser (Professor of Digital, Legal, and Platform Regulation at VU-Amsterdam and Legal Director of deceptive.design), and John Davisson (Director of Litigation & Senior Counsel, EPIC). 

The second closed-door discussion was moderated by Finn Myrstad from TACD. Taking a transatlantic perspective, the participants considered the difficulty of defining deceptive design, the ways regulation were being developed in the European Union, how design could be used to counter deception, and the need for legislators and regulators in the United States to develop measures to protect online consumers.

Key takeaways were: 

1. The elusive nature of the concept of deceptive designs makes it hard to pin down in specific and effective rules for regulatory enforcement action.
2. There is a lack of commercial incentives for business not to use deceptive designs. 
3. Deceptive designs are problematic as they contribute to the overall erosion of trust in the online digital ecosystem. 
4. The legal rules must be principle-based, technology neutral, and flexible. 
5. Part of the solution can be found in an exchange of information between jurisdictions.

Dr Glenster’s ongoing research will be published as a policy report on possible transatlantic regulatory principles and practices for deceptive designs by the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy in the late autumn of 2023. 

Read Dr Glenster’s interim report on deceptive design here.