1. Infinite Scroll Manipulation
- Endless feed scrolling designed to keep users engaged indefinitely
- No clear stopping points or content boundaries
- Loading new content automatically before reaching the bottom to prevent natural break points
2. Notification Overload
- Frequent push notifications about tangentially relevant activity
- "X is on Instagram!" notifications to drive FOMO
- Alerts about posts from users you rarely interact with to increase engagement
- Stories highlighted with bright rings to create urgency to view
3. Algorithm-Driven Addiction
- Intermittent reward system through likes and comments
- Strategic content delay to build anticipation
- Showing engaging content mixed with ads at carefully timed intervals
- "Suggested Posts" that appear after you've seen all new content from followed accounts
4. Social Pressure Tactics
- "Seen" indicators on stories and messages creating pressure to respond
- Activity status showing when you're online
- Notifications when someone screenshots your story
- Making it obvious when you've unfollowed someone
5. Data Collection & Privacy Manipulation
- Making privacy settings harder to find and configure
- Defaulting to the most data-sharing-intensive options
- Requiring phone number verification for "security"
- Cross-platform data sharing with Facebook/Meta with unclear opt-out processes
6. Content Creation Pressure
- "What's on your mind?" persistent prompts
- Regular reminders to post stories
- Highlighting when connections post new content
- Emphasizing streaks and regular posting
7. Shopping Integration Dark Patterns
- Mixing shopping content seamlessly with social content
- Making ads look like regular posts
- One-click shopping integration without clear price comparisons
- Using previous engagement data to target shopping suggestions
8. Relationship Manipulation
- "Suggested Friends" based on phone contact access
- Making it difficult to control feed algorithmic sorting
- Showing when people are "active now" to prompt interaction
- Using AI to prioritize certain connections over others without user control
9. Time-Spent Obscurement
- No built-in time tracking features
- Hiding total scroll distance
- No clear indicators of session length
- Making it difficult to set usage limits
10. Exit Prevention
- Making account deactivation process complex
- Multiple confirmation screens for logging out
- Emotional manipulation during deletion attempts ("Your friends will miss you!")
- Periodic emails about "what you're missing"
11. Feature Bundling
- Forcing Reels adoption by prominently placing them in the main feed
- Making certain features only available if other features are used
- Requiring cross-platform Meta account integration
12. Engagement Gamification
- Like counts and follower metrics designed to create competition
- Story view counts to drive posting behavior
- "Top posts" highlights to encourage more posting
- Engagement metrics prominently displayed