New York City Enacts "Click-to-Cancel" Subscription Rule

The rule that America's biggest entertainment and telecom companies helped bury in federal court is back—this time as city law. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a "Click-to-Cancel" rule on Friday that forces businesses to let people cancel a subscription the same way they signed up for it. Sign up with one click, cancel with one click. It takes effect on October 1, making New York the first city in the country to do this on its own. The context matters here. The Federal Trade Commission, under then-chair Lina Khan, wrote a nearly identical rule in 2024. Industry groups representing Comcast, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and a long list of other companies sued, and in 2025 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated it days before it was set to kick in—not on the merits, but over a procedural miss: the FTC hadn't filed a preliminary regulatory analysis for a rule with over $100 million in annual economic impact. The agency argued the impact was smaller. The court disagreed. Khan is now a Mamdani advisor, and she was standing next to him at the press conference.

What the rule actually does to your Netflix, gym and hotel subscriptions

It applies to automatic renewals and continuous service subscriptions. Businesses must disclose subscription terms clearly and provide a cancellation path that isn't a maze of phone trees, certified letters or in-person gym visits. Companies also can't charge you to return something they handed over free as part of the deal. Violations bring restitution to consumers plus civil penalties starting at $525 per violation. DCWP Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine put it plainly: nobody should be sending a certified letter to quit a streaming service. The Roosevelt Institute estimates the rule saves New Yorkers between $21.5 million and $162.5 million a year.

The junk fees rule coming next could hit rent, hotels and ticket prices

Mamdani paired it with a proposed junk fees rule requiring all-in pricing upfront — every mandatory charge included in the advertised number. That one goes to public hearing on August 7. It could reshape New York's rental market, where roughly 70% of residents rent and management companies tack on charges like "boiler management" and "lifestyle." Consumer Reports pegs hidden fees at roughly $3,200 a year for the average family of four.