I don't know if this qualifies as a "dark pattern", but this kind of "social proof" feature that the article is about buying really is hostile to consumers and is nothing to be proud about buying.
The upside is, it provides some evidence that the site is actually transacting business besides me (that could be fake). And I've clicked on the listings of things other people are buying-- e.g. what does this business mostly sell to people?
I would classify it as a dishonest practice, and it would be illegal.
I understand that it seems like this SHOULD be illegal but I am not sure it actually is.
It provides as much evidence as the incoming chat messages of hot singles in your area.
It literally loads static images: https://beeketing.com/bundles/bkcore/sources/images/notifica... (replace 7 with numbers from 1 ... 7)
And that platform is listed as the most used platform for "social proof" notifications on this princeton site: https://webtransparency.cs.princeton.edu/dark-patterns/
https://support.beeketing.com/support/solutions/articles/240...
Though they do suggest lying with {random_time_ago}...
Shopify will only approve social proof plugins that use real data.
edit: Indeed, I've confirmed that it doesn't even serve static images, but instead JavaScript injects dynamic HTML based on polled events-- https://imgur.com/a/2S1YHhG I suspect those images you have are samples in the user interface or documentation.
The point you’re missing here is that I’m not talking about their product but the notifications on their very own website.
It looks like some of the other series are clearly marked -- e.g. https://beeketing.com/bundles/bkcore/sources/images/notifica... --- but not those you found on the home page.