Adobe has agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle a lawsuit from the U.S. government. The 2024 complaint alleged that the company was hiding key terms of its annual subscriptions and putting obstacles in the cancellation process, generating early termination charges. Although it denies any irregularities, Adobe will pay the fine and offer free services worth another 75 million to affected customers, pending judicial approval.
The architecture of retention: dark patterns in the user experience 💀
The technical case revolves around the intentional design of dark patterns in the user interface. These flows, such as buried cancellation steps, confusing redirects, or pre-selected texts, aim to retain the user through friction. From development, they are implemented as deliberately complex UI paths, contrasting with the simplicity of the subscription process. This shows how front-end and back-end design decisions can prioritize recurring revenue capture over customer autonomy.
The cancel button: the most expensive easter egg in history 🔍
It turns out that finding the option to stop paying at Adobe was like a 90s graphic adventure game, but without the fun. You needed the right combination of clicks, patience to read fine print, and to solve a small puzzle of confirmations. Now, after this agreement, they might change it to a simple button that says Cancel. Although, hopefully, it won't be hidden behind three screens asking if you're absolutely sure you don't want to keep paying.