Dark Patterns · principle
Roach Motel
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A design that makes it very easy to get into a situation and deliberately hard to get out — one-tap subscribe, phone-call cancel. The exit must cost roughly what the entrance did; engineered exit friction converts users into hostages, not customers.
Where it comes from
UX designer Harry Brignull coined "dark patterns" on 28 July 2010 when he registered darkpatterns.org (now deceptive.design) — and the roach motel was in his original taxonomy, named after the US bug trap slogan: "roaches check in, but they don't check out." Regulators caught up: the FTC's click-to-cancel rule and India's CCPA Guidelines (30 Nov 2023) both target subscription traps by name.
Origin: Brignull's 2010 dark-patterns taxonomy; the Roach Motel bug trap
In the wild
- Subscription services
Sign up online in seconds; cancel only by calling a retention line with hold music — the textbook specimen.
- Free trials
Honest trials end with a summary and one cancel tap; roach motels bury the cancel behind surveys and counter-offers.
- Account deletion
GDPR and India's DPDP Act push the other way: deleting your data must be as accessible as handing it over.
Further reading
Don't just read it — feel it.
Play the 3-minute game and let your own reactions prove the law.
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