Outhouse › Dark Patterns › Disclosure

Hidden ad labels

Ad labels in small or faint type, or readable only by screen readers.

Why it matters

The law requires advertising to be labelled. It does not specify the size, colour or contrast of the label, and a label is still a label in 9px light grey.

Some platforms place the word Sponsored only in the code read by screen readers. Every visitor who uses one is fully informed.

How Outhouse measures it

Outhouse finds visible labels reading Sponsored, Ad, Advertisement or Promoted and measures their size and colour contrast. Under 11px or under 3:1 counts. So do sponsored labels that appear only in aria-labels. Three or more scores in full.

This audit counts towards Dark Patterns, with a weight of 3. A category is 75% its two highest-scoring audits and 25% all of its audits, weighted, so a site is judged mostly on what it does most and partly on how many things it does.

How to improve your score

Install Promote. Available on selected plans. See all products.

Related audits

• Fine print: Sentences in type too small or too faint to read.
• Text written for AI agents: Text written for the AI assistants and agents that read the page, usually hidden from the people who visit it.
• Terms by browsing: Notices that treat reading the page as agreement to arbitration, a waiver of class actions and tracking.