Automatic attention capture
Infinite catalogue without progress cues
A fictional marketplace continuously inserts new products and removes pagination, position and viewed-item markers while promotional prompts follow the shopper.
Individual HTML example · Forced action
Autoplay overrides a session limit
A fictional video service starts another clip when a user’s chosen twenty-minute limit is reached and hides the leave action behind a full-screen recommendation.
This is an original fictional comparison. It depicts no real business and is not a regulator finding, statutory category or legal safe harbour.
Autoplay overrides a session limit
A fictional video service starts another clip when a user’s chosen twenty-minute limit is reached and hides the leave action behind a full-screen recommendation.
One more video. The next clip starts automatically while the exit sits behind the recommendation.. Keep watching. Leave now
Your 20-minute limit is reached. Playback pauses and stopping is the first available action.. Leave now. Keep watching. What happens next, expanded: Activating “Leave now” produces the outcome stated on the control.
Why the first version can mislead: The additional dependency controls access to the account management goal. The panel states: “The next clip starts automatically while the exit sits behind the recommendation.” Reviewers need to establish whether “Keep watching” is necessary for the selected task or pressures the user into a separable action. The interface weakens a prior decision to stop and can extend use beyond the user’s intention.
What a fairer design does: Pause at the selected limit and show stable choices to leave, extend once or change the setting.
Show annotated differences (4)
Potentially problematic version
- The next clip starts automatically while the exit sits behind the recommendation.Why this state matters: The additional dependency controls access to the account management goal. The panel states: “The next clip starts automatically while the exit sits behind the recommendation.” Reviewers need to establish whether “Keep watching” is necessary for the selected task or pressures the user into a separable action. The interface weakens a prior decision to stop and can extend use beyond the user’s intention.
- Leave nowReview prompt: What functional need makes “Keep watching” necessary for the short-video feed goal, and can that need be met with less disclosure or commitment?
Neutral alternative
- Playback pauses and stopping is the first available action.Fairer design: Pause at the selected limit and show stable choices to leave, extend once or change the setting.
- What happens next, expanded: Activating “Leave now” produces the outcome stated on the control.Review prompt: Can the dialog be dismissed, what action does each control trigger, and what later state confirms or contradicts “New content starts or loads without an affirmative request”?
Review questions (3)
- What functional need makes “Keep watching” necessary for the short-video feed goal, and can that need be met with less disclosure or commitment?
- Can the dialog be dismissed, what action does each control trigger, and what later state confirms or contradicts “New content starts or loads without an affirmative request”?
- Could the stated purpose make this dependency genuinely necessary under the boundary “User-initiated playlist or explicitly enabled autoplay with a persistent control”, and what product evidence would demonstrate that necessity?
Complete practice context
How this example relates to Automatic attention capture
Content continues automatically or lacks meaningful stopping cues, reducing deliberate control over time and attention. This is a design and research taxonomy for learning and evidence review, not a statutory offence label or an automatic finding that an interface is unlawful.
The full guide explains inclusion and exclusion criteria, potential harms, fairer design, evidence questions and separate Australian legal information layers. The example page isolates one scenario so it can be shared and discussed without reproducing the complete library on one page.
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Sources and provenance for this example
Evidence base
Sources
- Dark commercial patternsOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development · Secondary · checked 2026-09-14 · OECD Digital Economy Papers No. 336
- Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026Federal Register of Legislation · Primary · checked 2026-09-14 · C2026A00064