Dark Patterns · principle
Nagging
Playable Play this law (~3 min)or keep reading below ↓
Repeated, unwanted interruptions — rating begs, notification re-prompts, upsell banners — that continue after the user has said no, until surrender reads as consent. Named in the CCPA Guidelines (2023). The tell: a 'no' that doesn't persist. Asking is fine; asking AGAIN after an answer is attrition, not persuasion.
Where it comes from
Brignull catalogued nagging from apps, but every parent of a toddler and every recipient of a persistent street tout knows the mechanism: repetition until compliance costs less than continued refusal. The CCPA Guidelines (2023) define it as a dark pattern precisely because the consent it extracts is exhaustion wearing consent's clothes. We teach it here — and cap our own reminders, because a platform teaching dark patterns must not run on them.
Origin: CCPA Guidelines (2023) — 'nagging' entry
In the wild
- Rate-us modals
The every-third-launch interruption with no 'never' option — a snooze button pretending to be a choice.
- Notification re-prompts
Full-screen takeovers repeating until granted turn permission into a war of attrition.
- The honest version
One well-timed ask after a success moment, with a 'No thanks' that actually means never.
Further reading
Don't just read it — feel it.
Play the 3-minute game and let your own reactions prove the law.
Play the lesson