At work, I often use a lot of different computers. At least once a week I sign onto a computer I’ve never used before. Since the computers use Windows 10, the default browser is Microsoft Edge. I don’t like Edge, but that ship has sailed and it’s the default.
This might be a recent update, but when Edge opens for the first time it has a start window with the option to sync my browser data or not. Of course I don’t want to do that, I like to pretend Microsoft can’t access that data. So I click the button to not sync. However, sometimes I’m doing something else when the Edge browser opens and I switch back to the task I was doing without clicking that button. If I do that, the option to not sync disappears and I can no longer close the browser without opening task manager and killing it. I’m sure Microsoft would say it’s a bug, but I doubt it.
My working term for this is “agreeable coercion”, where a product or person pretends they are being helpful or kind and giving a choice when really there isn’t one.
Another example, also from work is Microsoft Teams. It opens by default on every startup, even if I’m logged in, even if I have told it not to. Once again, the company wants it to look like you have a choice, but you really don’t.
A final example is those dang cookie buttons. Trying to opt out of cookies is a nightmare because the companies in question really don’t want you to.
If you are using agreeable coercion in your business, or even worse in your relationships, please stop.