Friend spam is the worst gift you can give your email contacts or social media followers. This dark pattern occurs when an app asks for permission to access your contacts under the guise of giving them some benefits. It results in bombarding your contacts with messages on your

behalf. Such breaches of privacy are often infuriating. In 2015, users sued LinkedIn for succumbing to such practices, and the platform was fined $13 million.^[1]

Avoid sending emails or messages to your users' contacts pretending to be them. Instead, use your company name and send users only relevant content that they have signed up for.