New York will become the first city in the country to require that consumers be allowed to cancel subscriptions for streaming services and gym memberships in the way that they signed up. Known as “click-to-cancel,” it means that if you signed up online, you should be able to cancel online rather than making a phone call or appearing in person (as gyms have sometimes forced consumers to do).
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the new rule at a press conference Friday, where he also introduced a proposed rule that would require businesses to list the full price of goods and services upfront, including any additional fees.
“For years, companies have built their business model around making it harder for working people to hold onto their money,” Mandani said in a press release. “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,” said Mamdani. “If you can sign up with one click, you can cancel with one click.”
The new click-to-cancel rule will be in full force on Oct. 1 and is covered by Mandani’s Executive Order 10, while Executive Order 9 establishes the task force on junk fees. There’s a planned public hearing on the junk fees rule for August 7 before it’s implemented on January 1, 2027. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) will be tasked with enforcing it.
If the idea for click-to-cancel sounds familiar, that’s because President Joe Biden’s administration tried to do something similar at the federal level during his last full year in office. The Federal Trade Commission under Biden attempted to roll out the click-to-cancel rule in 2024 but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit shot that down in 2025 over a procedural error. The court claimed the FTC hasn’t come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, something required for any rule that would have an impact on the economy of over $100 million annually.
The FTC said that it didn’t conduct the analysis because it determined the impact would be less than $100 million, but the court disagreed and vacated the rule. Mamdani said at his press conference that the changes will save New Yorkers about $162 million per year. While that estimate includes both the hidden fees and the “click-to-cancel” rules, it does perhaps suggest the economic impact of the click-to-cancel would’ve exceeded $100 million per year nationally.
Mamdani has emerged as the Republicans’ favorite boogeyman, largely supplanting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the villainous face of socialism, or “communism” if you listen to guys like President Trump. But Mamdani’s ideas are incredibly popular with voters, especially when it comes to consumer protection ideas like click-to-cancel. A whopping 85% of Americans support a ban on junk fees, according to polling from 2024.
The ban on junk fees would apply to renting apartments. The Guardian notes that New York’s apartment rental market is filled with add-on fees for things like “boiler management” and “lifestyle.” Those costs would need to be included in any monthly rental charge.
Lina Khan, the former chair of the FTC under Biden, appeared at Mamdani’s press conference Friday and praised the click-to-cancel changes that had been vacated by the court when she tried the same thing at the federal level.
“Nobody should be trapped in subscriptions they can’t escape or stuck paying junk fees they can’t avoid,” said Khan.
“These predatory tactics cheat people out of billions of dollars each year,” she continued. “With today’s rules, Commissioner Levine and DCWP are cracking down on corporate ripoffs, protecting families and honest businesses alike. 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.”