{"id":7998,"date":"2026-10-02T03:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7998"},"modified":"2026-10-02T03:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:22:15","slug":"nyc-click-to-cancel-subscriptions-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7998","title":{"rendered":"NYC is now the first city in America that bans sketchy subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"


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New York City residents struggling to get out of recurring subscription fees can now submit complaints to the city government. As of Thursday, the city\u2019s click-to-cancel rule<\/a> has taken effect, which requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. That means a gym that lets you join online, for example, can\u2019t make you call or go in person to end your subscription.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s the first municipality to see the rule take effect, after an appeals court struck down a federal version<\/a> for procedural issues. The city expects it to save New Yorkers anywhere from $21.5 million to $162.5 million<\/a> annually. And to NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel Levine, it\u2019s an example of how state and local governments can hold companies accountable when federal efforts fail. \u201cNo one should need 45 minutes of hold music to stop paying for something they never wanted,\u201d NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cIf a company can take your money with one click, you should be able to get your money back with one click. And now, if they won\u2019t let you cancel, the City is coming for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Levine was the Federal Trade Commission consumer protection chief under Lina Khan, and he tried to usher in the click-to-cancel rule at a national level. He says the experience of implementing the rule in NYC has been \u201cnight and day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe proposed this rule this year. We finalized it this year. It\u2019s taking effect this year. This is the speed of government as it should be,\u201d Levine tells The Verge<\/em> in an exclusive interview. While Levine says he\u2019s proud of his work on the FTC rule and sees it as a \u201cmodel\u201d for other state and local governments, \u201cat the end of the day, it took more than four years. And then after all of that, it never actually gave Americans the relief they needed.\u201d While the FTC under current Chair Andrew Ferguson has taken an initial step<\/a> toward potentially reestablishing a similar rule, Levine is betting that more municipalities will do so first. While that leaves fewer Americans protected, it still creates a deterrent for businesses to engage in deceptive subscription practices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is the speed of government as it should be\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In New York, consumers can use a new portal<\/a> to file complaints if they believe a business gave them unclear subscription terms, delayed cancellation, or failed to inform them the subscription would auto-renew. After filing a complaint, DCWP will review it and could reach out for more information and try to get consumers\u2019 money back and help them cancel relevant subscriptions. If the agency sees a pattern of noncompliance at a certain business, it could prompt further investigation and legal action. Under the rule, businesses could face fines starting at $525 per violation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The mayor\u2019s Public Interest Technology (PIT) Crew built the portal in 10 weeks; Levine assures consumers that the experience will be far different from the White House\u2019s newly launched<\/a> America.gov<\/a>, which he says appears to be \u201cjust an AI chatbot layered on top of the federal government\u2019s existing infrastructure.\u201d When consumers submit a complaint to the click-to-cancel portal, Levine says, \u201cthey\u2019re not going to be diverted into a chatbot doom loop. We\u2019re going to have actual people whose full-time job is to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He also says it won\u2019t be like going to a DMV office to renew your driver\u2019s license. \u201cIf we want to restore people\u2019s faith in government and the ability of government to deliver, we need to show that government can create excellent products. We need to show that every experience is not going to the DMV. And I mean, no offense to our colleagues at the DMV,\u201d Levine says. \u201cPeople have really bad associations with interacting with the government, and sometimes that deters them from filing complaints. You can have the best laws in the world, but at the end of the day, if your eyes and ears, the people you\u2019re working to protect, don\u2019t want to actually deal with the government and tell us what happened, those laws are not going to be effective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Update October 1st: <\/strong>Added statement from NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City residents struggling to get out of recurring subscription fees can now submit complaints to the city government. As of Thursday, the city\u2019s click-to-cancel rule has taken effect, which requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. That means a gym that lets you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[529,74,75,126],"class_list":["post-7998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-exclusive","tag-policy","tag-politics","tag-report"],"yoast_head":"\nNYC is now the first city in America that bans sketchy subscriptions - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New York City\u2019s click-to-cancel rule takes effect Oct. 1st, letting consumers submit complaints about deceptive subscription practices.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7998\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NYC is now the first city in America that bans sketchy subscriptions - 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