Contact harvesting and coerced referrals
Address-book import blocks onboarding
A fictional community app stops onboarding at an address-book permission screen and gives no visible way to continue without uploading contacts.
Individual HTML example · Forced action
Feature unlocked by recruiting friends
A fictional workspace keeps export disabled until the user supplies three colleagues’ addresses and sends invitations from the service.
This is an original fictional comparison. It depicts no real business and is not a regulator finding, statutory category or legal safe harbour.
Feature unlocked by recruiting friends
A fictional workspace keeps export disabled until the user supplies three colleagues’ addresses and sends invitations from the service.
Invite three people to export. The export link stays locked until three invitations are sent.. Add contacts. Unconfirmed state: Add contacts
Export your workspace. Export works independently; inviting collaborators remains optional.. Download export. Saved state: Download export. Persisted account state, expanded: The saved state behind “Download export” remains consistent after refresh and across supported channels.
Why the first version can mislead: The additional dependency controls access to the account management goal. The panel states: “The export link stays locked until three invitations are sent.” Reviewers need to establish whether “Add contacts” is necessary for the selected task or pressures the user into a separable action. The user is pressured to disclose other people’s contact data and send messages unrelated to the export task.
What a fairer design does: Keep export independent of referrals and let users invite collaborators only when collaboration is their chosen goal.
Show annotated differences (4)
Potentially problematic version
- The export link stays locked until three invitations are sent.Why this state matters: The additional dependency controls access to the account management goal. The panel states: “The export link stays locked until three invitations are sent.” Reviewers need to establish whether “Add contacts” is necessary for the selected task or pressures the user into a separable action. The user is pressured to disclose other people’s contact data and send messages unrelated to the export task.
- Unconfirmed state: Add contactsReview prompt: What functional need makes “Add contacts” necessary for the collaboration workspace goal, and can that need be met with less disclosure or commitment?
Neutral alternative
- Export works independently; inviting collaborators remains optional.Fairer design: Keep export independent of referrals and let users invite collaborators only when collaboration is their chosen goal.
- Persisted account state, expanded: The saved state behind “Download export” remains consistent after refresh and across supported channels.Review prompt: Test the control across refresh, device and account states; is “Consent, recipient choice or downstream use is unclear, defaulted or coerced” still observable after persistence is considered?
Review questions (3)
- What functional need makes “Add contacts” necessary for the collaboration workspace goal, and can that need be met with less disclosure or commitment?
- Test the control across refresh, device and account states; is “Consent, recipient choice or downstream use is unclear, defaulted or coerced” still observable after persistence is considered?
- Could the stated purpose make this dependency genuinely necessary under the boundary “clearly optional referral program with no functional penalty”, and what product evidence would demonstrate that necessity?
Complete practice context
How this example relates to Contact harvesting and coerced referrals
The service extracts contact information, sends or prepares unwanted invitations, or ties functionality to recruiting other people. 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