The paper “Playful but Persuasive: Deceptive Designs and Advertising Strategies in Popular Mobile Apps for Children”, co-authored by PEASEC researchers Hannah Krahl and Katrin Hartwig, has received an Honourable Mention at CHI PLAY 2026.
The study shows how widespread manipulative design is in popular, free-to-download mobile games for children: all 20 apps examined in German-speaking regions contained at least three Deceptive Design Patterns. Moreover, 90% displayed heavy advertising. As children often struggle to recognise commercial intent, the findings inform debates on platform responsibility in the context of the GDPR and the DSA, as well as child-centred game design.
The selection was based on the reviews and an additional assessment by the Best Paper Awards Committee. In previous editions, Honourable Mentions have recognised papers among the top 3–5%.
Hannah Krahl, Katrin Hartwig, Ann-Kathrin Fischer, Theodora Nikolakopoulou, Guy Pires Cabritas, Eva Ungeheuer, Nina Gerber, and Alina Stöver. 2026. Playful but Persuasive: Deceptive Designs and Advertising Strategies in Popular Mobile Apps for Children. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 10(7), Article GAMES058. https://doi.org/10.1145/3831333