Outhouse › Dark Patterns › Choice

No reject button

A consent banner with Accept and nothing like Reject beside it.

Why it matters

Consent requires a choice. A banner with Accept all in a bright button and Manage preferences in grey text offers a choice: between agreeing now and agreeing later, after eleven toggles.

Regulators have fined companies for this. The fines are a recognised cost of acquisition.

How Outhouse measures it

Outhouse reads the buttons and links inside a consent banner. If one accepts and none rejects, declines or limits to necessary cookies, it scores in full. Banners drawn inside a frame from another site cannot be read.

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 ConsentMax™. Available on selected plans. See all products.

Related audits

• Pre-ticked boxes: Boxes for marketing, partners or extras that are ticked before the visitor arrives.
• Trick questions: Options worded so that ticking the box means the opposite of what it appears to.