Research

Public research, evidence and tools for digital regulation.

DigiData’s research section brings together public reports, books, regulatory submissions and external research infrastructure. It begins with a major resource for the comparative study of deceptive design enforcement.

Featured research resource

Deceptive Design Enforcement Database

A searchable record of regulatory action and litigation concerning deceptive patterns in digital services.

The database supports comparative analysis of how consumer protection, data protection, competition and related legal regimes respond to manipulative interface and system design. It brings together enforcement materials across jurisdictions and organises them according to the deceptive practices identified in each action.

The enforcement materials draw on the Leiser, Santos and Doshi Database, providing a practical evidence base for researchers, regulators, practitioners and organisations assessing the legal treatment of deceptive design. The resource is hosted by deceptive.design and opens as an external site.

Explore the enforcement database See related DigiData work

Selected public work

Reports and submissions built for scrutiny.

The complete Work library includes commissioned studies, public submissions, policy papers and earlier academic reports, each labelled according to the capacity in which it was completed.

Cover for Report for the European Commission on Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of the AI Act

Published

2026European Commission final study report

Report for the European Commission on Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of the AI Act

A comprehensive analysis of subliminal, purposefully manipulative, deceptive and vulnerability-exploitative AI practices, including constitutive elements, enforcement challenges, use cases and interaction with the wider EU digital acquis.

View report details Download PDF Official publication

Cover for Analysis of Deceptive Design Techniques in Online Services Popular Among Children

Published

2025Commissioned report for the Dutch Government

Analysis of Deceptive Design Techniques in Online Services Popular Among Children

A 155-page analysis of manipulative interfaces and system architecture, personalised influence, gamification, children’s vulnerabilities and the adequacy of the GDPR, DSA, UCPD and AI Act.

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Cover for Making Access to Google Search Data Work Without Inventing a Privacy Fiction

Published

2026European Commission consultation submission

Making Access to Google Search Data Work Without Inventing a Privacy Fiction

A submission on Article 6(11) DMA that preserves anonymisation as the legal condition for sharing personal search data, proposes tiered access modalities and introduces the AUIA.

View report details Download PDF

Published

2026Policy paper

The Innovation Mandate

A proposal for a binding duty of evidence and public reason-giving when digital regulators choose among materially different lawful routes affecting rights, legal certainty, investment and scale.

View report details Download PDF View preprint record

Cover for From Individual Rights to Industrial Litigation

Published

2026CIPL Digital Thought Lab report

From Individual Rights to Industrial Litigation

An analysis of collective redress, Article 82 GDPR, procedural fragmentation, forum selection, automation and the need to keep harm, procedure and remedy tightly coupled.

View report details Download PDF

Cover for Consumer Interest and AI: Tools, Frameworks, Accountability and Tolerable Risk

Published

2026DRCF Phase 2 submission · Personal capacity

Consumer Interest and AI: Tools, Frameworks, Accountability and Tolerable Risk

A functional risk ladder and Consumer AI Accountability Framework covering purpose, control, evidence, outcomes, redress, agentic permissions, action receipts and cross-sector cooperation.

View report details Download PDF

View the complete work library

Books

Major research projects in book form.

Publisher pages provide the authoritative bibliographic and purchasing records.

2025Author

Dark Patterns, Deceptive Design, and the Law

AI’s Hidden Influence on Our Digital Experience

A full-spectrum account of manipulation from visible interface tactics to personalised system architecture and AI-powered influence.

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2024Co-editor

Critical Reflections on the EU’s Data Protection Regime

A multi-author assessment of the GDPR’s institutions, doctrine and enforcement

A critical examination of the GDPR’s legal architecture, enforcement practice and wider political and institutional consequences.

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2026Author

Artificial Intelligence, Neurodata, and Society

Law at the Edge of Cognition

An examination of NeuroAI, predictive cognition, mental privacy and the legal limits surrounding brain-derived and inferred data.

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