New York City Makes Canceling a Subscription as Easy as Signing Up

Signing up for a subscription usually takes a few seconds. Getting out of one can take a phone call, a long hold and a lot of patience. New York City put a rule in force that is meant to close that gap. Businesses must now make an automatically renewing subscription as easy to end as it was to start. 

New York state law already asks for much the same thing. What the city has added is its own power to police the rule, along with an online portal where residents can report companies that drag their feet. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a news release that if a company can charge you with a single click, “you should be able to get your money back with one click.” City officials say it is the first municipality in the country to do so. 

Why regulators care

The contracts at the heart of this are called “negative option” subscriptions. The name sounds technical, but the idea is simple: the plan keeps renewing, and keeps charging, until the customer says stop. They are easy to join and often hard to leave, which is why complaints have grown alongside their popularity. 

The spending adds up. A 2025 survey by the technology site CNET found that U.S. adults spend an average of $1,080 a year on subscriptions, with about $205 of that going to services they no longer use. Complaints have climbed too. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the main U.S. consumer protection agency, received more than 90 complaints a day about these practices in 2025, up from at least 33 a day in late 2020. That comes to more than 100,000 complaints over five years.

What companies are now expected to do

For a business, New York City is one more layer on an already crowded map. More than half of U.S. states have laws covering automatic renewals, according to Gonzalo Mon, a partner at the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren. The details vary, but the themes repeat: disclose the key terms up front, get the customer’s consent and confirm it, and offer a simple way out. 

The city rule carries real consequences. Violations bring civil penalties starting at $525, and a company may also have to refund the customer. Lawyers at Covington & Burling point to one detail that could catch firms off guard: the city requires an online way to cancel, such as a website or email, so a phone line alone is not enough. Mon expects more state laws, given regulators’ focus on affordability. 

The federal rule that almost was

A national standard came close to existing. The FTC finalized a click-to-cancel rule in October 2024, and business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenged it in court. In July 2025, days before it was due to take effect, a federal appeals court threw it out on procedural grounds. 

In March 2026, the FTC asked the public whether it should update its decades-old Negative Option Rule, including by bringing back parts of the vacated rule. Comments closed on April 13. On timing, Mon was candid with CNBC: “we don’t know how or when.” 

Meanwhile, the agency still enforces older laws. In May 2026, Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK) agreed to pay $35 million to settle FTC allegations that included making subscriptions hard to cancel. Shutterstock did not admit or deny wrongdoing. Congress also has bills pending, including the bipartisan Unsubscribe Act, which would require easy cancellation. 

Where this leaves consumers and companies

Technology may move faster than lawmakers. Meta (NASDAQ: META) launched an AI agent called Muse in September 2026. It can identify recurring charges and help users cancel subscriptions they no longer want. If tools like that catch on, a confusing cancellation page stops being much of a barrier. 

For households, the practical lesson is to check what renews each month. In New York City, there is now somewhere to complain. For companies, the direction is hard to miss. City, state and federal officials are all pushing the same way, and a subscription model that depends on customers giving up before they cancel looks harder to defend each year.