Dark Pattern Detector

An AI-powered Chrome Extension that detects and highlights manipulative user interface designs (Dark Patterns) in real-time.

Overview

The Dark Pattern Detector helps users navigate the web safely by identifying deceptive design patterns designed to trick them into taking actions they didn't intend to (like buying insurance, signing up for a newsletter, or rushing a purchase).

It uses a Hybrid Detection Engine combining:

1. Broad Match Regex: Instantly scans for 120+ suspicion keywords across 10 distinct categories.
2. On-Device AI (TensorFlow.js): A sandboxed AI model (Universal Sentence Encoder) verifies the context of detected text to reduce false positives.
3. Visibility Filters: Ensures only text actually visible to the user is flagged.

Key Features

• Real-time Detection: Scans pages automatically as you browse.
• 10 Detection Categories:
  • Urgency: "Offer ends in 00:05:00!"
  • Scarcity: "Only 2 items left in stock."
  • Social Proof: "15 people are viewing this right now."
  • Confirmshaming: "No thanks, I like paying full price."
  • Hidden Costs: Unexpected fees revealed at checkout.
  • Hidden Subscription: Hard-to-cancel auto-renewals.
  • Nagging: Popups that won't go away.
  • Obstruction: Making it hard to delete accounts.
  • Preselection: Pre-checked newsletter boxes.
  • Forced Action: "Download the app to continue."
• Privacy First: 100% On-Device Processing. No data is ever sent to a cloud server.
• Visual Highlights: Suspicious text is highlighted directly on the page.
• Detailed Analytics: Click the extension popup to see exactly what text triggered the alert and why.

Installation (Developer Mode)

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/GamePointAnalytics/dark-pattern-detector-extension.git

2. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/.
3. Enable Developer mode (toggle in the top right).
4. Click Load unpacked.
5. Select the dark-pattern-detector-extension folder from this repository.
6. The extension is now active! Visit any e-commerce site to test it out.

Architecture

This extension is built on Manifest V3 and utilizes a unique architecture to run AI models within the strict security constraints of modern browsers:

• Content Script: Scans the DOM for candidate text nodes.
• Background Worker: Acts as a router/controller.
• Offscreen Document: Bridges the communication gap between the background worker and the sandbox.
• Sandboxed Iframe: Hosts the TensorFlow.js runtime and the Universal Sentence Encoder (USE) model, allowing for safe execution of unsafe-eval code required by the WASM backend.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.