Starting Thursday, New York’s new click-to-cancel rule goes into effect, requiring businesses to have a straightforward cancellation process for consumers in the same method they used to sign up. If you signed up for a streaming service or gym membership online, you should be able to cancel online, according to Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Businesses that don’t adhere to the new rules will face fines starting at $525, along with the responsibility of refunding consumers.
Mamdani’s office says the new click-to-cancel rule, which was first announced in July, is projected to save New Yorkers up to $162.5 million per year. The city will also launch a new website Thursday, nyc.gov/click-to-cancel, where New Yorkers can fill out a form to report businesses that don’t comply.
The new website was a joint effort between New York’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) and the Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), which operates what are called the PIT (Public Interest Technology) Crew. The PIT Crews are an initiative launched by Mayor Mamdani to rapidly build public-facing “digital goods” that help New Yorkers.
The PIT Crews are made up of software engineers, user researchers, designers, and product managers and they’re hiring in an effort to ramp up efficiency in local government. They built the new click-to-cancel tool in just 10 weeks, according to a spokesperson with the mayor’s office.
“Government technology should work for the people, not against them,” CTO and OTI Commissioner Lisa Gelobter said in a press release. “This is a prime example of tech powering policy for public good. By building this tool in-house with OTI’s PIT Crew, we delivered a fast, secure, and intuitive portal that makes taking action effortless for every New Yorker. We are proud to partner with DCWP to leverage technology in defense of consumers across all five boroughs.”
Mamdani has tried to emphasize a need for efficiency in government, something that has drawn disingenuous comparison’s to Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. That type of comparison seems off base, given the fact that DOGE’s real goal was to dismantle government and purge institutional knowledge and expertise. Mamdani’s efforts seem much more like an earnest attempt at getting government to work better for the average person. And he’s bringing more expertise into government through people like former FTC head Lina Khan, who now chairs the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
New York is the first city in the country to create a click-to-cancel rule. Just about everyone has forgotten to cancel a subscription and that subtle trickery has become an important part of many business models. But it’s made all the worse when you can’t cancel easily.
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) will be enforcing the new click-to-cancel rule, and DCWP Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine encouraged people to file a complaint if they feel like a business has wronged them.
“To any company extracting hard-earned money from working people through subscription tricks and traps: you’re on notice,” Levin said. “And to New Yorkers struggling to cancel those impossible subscriptions, file a complaint through our new portal today. We have your back.”
The mayor’s office encourages anyone in a variety of shady circumstances to report their experience through the new website. For example, if you weren’t clearly told the terms of your subscription and felt you were duped, or if the business has delayed in cancelling your subscription in some way. Consumers are also being asked to report incidents where they’ve been sent products they didn’t ask for and are expected to return or pay for. Any unannounced changes to subscription terms would also be a scenario where users could report the incident to the city.
Mamdani also announced a ban on junk fees over the summer, though that won’t go into effect until Jan. 1.
