The proliferation of the internet has resulted in the digitisation of a lot of services leading to mundane services being utilised online. In an attempt to ensure that services online are not only effective but operate seamlessly and afford service providers competitive advantages the user-centered design approach has evolved and been improved. This, coupled with advances made in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics and Cloud Computing, has allowed for user-centered design to be predictive and effectively allow for e-commerce services to operate beyond what most thought fathomable. This has also resulted in dark patterns being made use of more and more in electronic transactions.

This research considered different manifestations of dark pattern modelled after the study by the team of researchers at Princeton University. Different manifestations of the Princeton Model were compared with services rendered on the African continent by both service providers on the continent and those based outside the continent, targeting the continent. The research also examined websites and mobile applications across different sectors for use cases of dark pattern in media, betting, e-commerce, flight aggregation, advertisement, games, lending tech and hospitality.

The research aims at contributing to the knowledge base, while also increasing the level of awareness of dark patterns on the continent.

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