In January, Google and Facebook were fined $238 million for using dark patterns under GDPR, specifically for making it difficult for users to disable cookies. Dark patterns refer to manipulative UX designs that steer users toward unintended actions, such as requiring extra steps to refuse consent, hiding opt-out options, or misclassifying non-essential technologies as "strictly necessary." Additionally, some businesses fail to ask for consent or do not honor it due to improper Consent Management Platform (CMP) implementations. To avoid fines, companies should ensure proper consent collection, validate CMP functionality, and regularly audit for compliance using tools like ObservePoint’s Privacy Compliance solution.

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