NYC Will Force Companies to Make Canceling Subscriptions as Easy as Signing Up

Starting October 1, any company that lets New York City residents sign up for a subscription online will have to let them cancel it the same way. That covers streaming services, gym memberships, and the creative software many of you pay for every month.

The rule comes from New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and it was announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on July 10, according to amNewYork. The city says the finalized Click-to-Cancel rule will go into force on October 1, 2026, positioning New York City as the country's first municipality to mandate that businesses offer easy, uncomplicated subscription cancellation.

Here is how it works. Anyone who signs up online has to be given the ability to cancel online too, and any business accepting sign-ups via multiple channels must make cancellation available through each of those channels. Companies that enroll you in person also have to give you an online option like a website or email. The rule bars companies from hanging up on you when you try to cancel, from giving false or confusing cancellation instructions, from lying about the cost of leaving, and from dragging out your request. They can still pitch you a discount to stay, but the offer cannot block or stall the cancellation. Companies that break the rule are on the hook for anything they charge you after your first cancellation attempt, and civil penalties start at $525 for a first violation, climb to $1,050 for a second, and hit $3,500 for a third. You enforce it by calling 311 or filing a complaint on the city's consumer site, and the agency will first try to mediate, recover your money, and get the subscription canceled.

If this idea sounds familiar, that's because a nearly identical federal version collapsed a year ago. The Federal Trade Commission finalized its own click-to-cancel rule in late 2024, but on July 8, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated it on procedural grounds, days before it was set to take effect. The court didn't rule on whether the idea was good or bad. It found the FTC skipped a required economic analysis after its own administrative law judge determined the rule would cost the economy more than $100 million a year. So the federal protection died on a technicality, and businesses were no longer required to comply. That history is exactly why the city framed this as filling a gap, and the former FTC chair who championed the federal rule, Lina Khan, appeared at the announcement.

For working photographers, this hits close to home because of Adobe. In June 2024, the Department of Justice, on referral from the FTC, sued Adobe over its subscription practices. The government alleged the company steered people toward its "annual paid monthly" plan and buried a hefty early termination fee that could cost hundreds of dollars if you quit in the first year. The complaint also said Adobe's cancellation process was built to wear you down. In March 2026, Adobe settled for $150 million, divided into $75 million in civil penalties paid to the government and $75 million in complimentary services provided to customers. Adobe denied wrongdoing but said it had made signing up and canceling more streamlined. If you have ever tried to leave Creative Cloud and found yourself clicking through page after page or fending off retention offers, you understand why a rule like this exists.

The catch is scope. This is a city rule, so it protects New York City residents, not everyone who pays for a plan nationwide. Industry groups pushed back during the comment period, arguing existing state law already covered this and that a local rule would only add confusion. The city rejected that, saying its version expands on state law with its own penalties, restitution, and cancellation-method requirements. The wider trend is the more interesting part. States have their own auto-renewal laws, and the FTC has already signaled it may try to reinstitute a federal rule after the court loss. 

Lead image vy NYC Mayor's Office, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=181082963.