Mamdani announces 'Click to Cancel' rule to rid NYC of subscription traps and junk fees

Mamdani announces 'Click to Cancel' rule to rid NYC of subscription traps and junk fees

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a first-of-its-kind rule to protect New Yorkers from subscription traps and junk fees.

The so-called "Click to Cancel" rule will require businesses to make it as easy for you to cancel your subscription as it was to sign up.

He made the announcement alongside New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine and other officials on Friday.

"I think many of us have come to feel this is inevitable," Levine said. "The feeling like we're navigating a minefield when we're shopping is simply the price of modern convenience."

The rules, which go into effect in October, will protect residents from being trapped in never ending subscriptions, like at gyms and hotels, and by hidden junk fees.

The Click-to-Cancel Rule alone is estimated to save New Yorkers up to $162.5 million per year.

"For years, companies have built their business model around making it harder for working people to hold onto their money," Mayor Mamdani said. "Whether it's hidden fees that suddenly appear at checkout or subscriptions that take one click to sign up for and a dozen steps to cancel, the result is the same: working people pay more while corporations profit. That ends now. If you can sign up with one click, you can cancel with one click."

Many New Yorkers say they find subscriptions crippling financially, and overwhelming to cancel.

"Like we have so many subscriptions that we barely even use or like family plans," said Financial District resident Paige Southworth.

"I would say Netflix, or honestly all of the above. They definitely never give you a chance, I guess, to catch a break," said Lower East resident Ike Sanchez.

A similar federal rule was put into place by Lina Khan when she was chair of the Federal Trade Commission during the Biden administration.

It has since been blocked by the courts during the Trump administration.

Kahn is now a Mamdani advisor, and is spearheading implementing it on the city level.

"The Mamdani administration's work to tackle the affordability crisis and promote economic fairness continues to set a new standard nationwide, modeling effective governance and a relentless focus on using all of the city's levers to improve life for New Yorkers," she said.

Businesses that violate the rule will be subject to restitution for consumers and civil penalties beginning at $525 per violation.

But the real question is how the city will enforce it, and how much it will cost.

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