ACDPs Transparency Labels: Supporting User Agency Against Attention-Capture Damaging Patterns

Social platforms increasingly rely on Attention-Capture Damaging Patterns (ACDPs) - interface mechanisms such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and recommendation feeds - to extend user engagement beyond users' original intentions. While emerging regulations require platforms to be more transparent about how they shape users' behaviors and attitudes, how to concretely map this requirement to ACDPs remains unclear. We propose ACDPs Transparency Labels (ATLs): contextual, in-app interface notices that make ACDPs visible, explain how they may affect users' digital well-being, and offer a clear call to action to regain control. We developed the ATL concept through two co-design workshops with 13 users of TikTok and YouTube. This poster reports the most generative findings from the workshops, distills them into five preliminary design guidelines, and position ATLs as a socio-technical proposal that connects user agency, platform design responsibility, and regulatory enforcement.