I also think there are systemic reasons to stop it. If you're running, say, a good streaming service, imagine a competitor coming along that makes a lot of use of dark patterns to get people to sign up and keep paying even though the value is much lower than your service. Now you have a choice: try to compete against a better-funded competitor or go for the same dirty money yourself?
As a society, we want companies to devote their capital and brainpower to making things better for customers that can freely choose the best products. And that's what most company founders want too, so that markets are competitive in fair ways and they can focus on the products that got them excited enough to start a company. So I think it's in the interests of everybody except the parasitically inclined to just rule out exploitative business models.
I also think there are systemic reasons to stop it. If you're running, say, a good streaming service, imagine a competitor coming along that makes a lot of use of dark patterns to get people to sign up and keep paying even though the value is much lower than your service. Now you have a choice: try to compete against a better-funded competitor or go for the same dirty money yourself?
As a society, we want companies to devote their capital and brainpower to making things better for customers that can freely choose the best products. And that's what most company founders want too, so that markets are competitive in fair ways and they can focus on the products that got them excited enough to start a company. So I think it's in the interests of everybody except the parasitically inclined to just rule out exploitative business models.