New York City to become first in US to ban deceptive subscription practices
644 points
• 6 days ago
• Article
Link
New York City 已采取里程碑式举措，成为 United States 首个禁止欺骗性订阅做法的城市。从 10 月 1 日起，在市内经营的公司必须为消费者提供一种简单明了的方式，取消诸如流媒体服务或健身房会员等服务的循环收费。未遵守规定、继续将顾客困在不愿续订的协议中的企业，将面临严格执法，每笔订阅可处以 525 美元的罚款，并须退还相关费用。
市政府同时推动消除所谓的 junk fees（隐藏费用），这些费用人为抬高了商品和服务的实际成本。拟议规则要求商家在销售时提前公布包含所有强制性费用的总价，以应对广泛存在的隐藏费用问题——这些费用常常掩盖从演出票到租赁住房等商品的真实价格。根据 New York City 的消费者与劳动者保护专员 Samuel AA Levine 的说法，当前市场往往鼓励企业通过隐藏价格取胜，而不是提供有竞争力的服务或价值。
这项监管举措是市政府更广泛议程的一部分，旨在打击他们所称数十年来的 corporate malpractice 和 predatory pricing（企业不当行为与掠夺性定价）。官员们认为，自 Reagan era 的放松管制以来，监管不足使企业更易采用欺骗性策略。通过强制透明化，市府希望纠正市场扭曲、减轻居民的经济负担。据估计，仅新的订阅规则每年就可为 New Yorkers 节省约 1.625 亿美元。
这些努力并非没有阻力。行业团体历来游说反对对定价结构的管制，常将此类措施描述为政府越权。尽管 federal efforts 在试图遏制类似做法时因程序问题而受阻或被裁定无效，New York City 仍在推进自己的地方保护措施。市府目前正就 junk fee 提案征求公众意见，官员对能在年底前敲定这些措施表示乐观。
除了订阅陷阱和 junk fees 外，市议会还在考虑禁止 surveillance pricing——即利用算法根据个人习惯对不同消费者收取不同价格的做法。随着这些政策逐步成型，它们反映出地方政府在应对 affordability crisis（可负担性危机）中主动介入、提供消费者保护的日益趋势，实质上是在为工薪阶层居民对抗许多人认为极不公平的做法赋能。
New York City has taken a landmark step as the first municipality in the United States to implement a ban on deceptive subscription practices. Starting October 1, companies operating within the city must provide consumers with a simple, straightforward way to cancel recurring charges for services such as streaming or gym memberships. Those who fail to comply or continue to trap customers in unwanted agreements face strict enforcement and potential fines of $525 per subscription, alongside requirements to pay back any associated fees.
The city is simultaneously pushing to eliminate so-called junk fees that artificially inflate the costs of goods and services. A proposed rule would mandate that sellers advertise the total price upfront, inclusive of all mandatory charges. This initiative aims to address the widespread issue of hidden costs that often obscure the true price of items, from event tickets to rental housing. According to Samuel AA Levine, the city's commissioner of consumer and worker protection, the current marketplace often incentivizes companies to compete based on their ability to conceal pricing rather than offering competitive value.
This regulatory drive is part of a broader agenda by the administration to combat what they characterize as decades of corporate malpractice and predatory pricing. City officials argue that since the deregulation trends of the Reagan era, a lack of oversight has allowed businesses to prioritize deceptive tactics. By mandating transparency, the city hopes to rectify market distortions and alleviate the financial burden on residents, with estimates suggesting that the new subscription rules alone could save New Yorkers approximately $162.5 million annually.
These efforts are not without opposition, as industry groups have historically lobbied against attempts to regulate pricing structures, often framing such measures as government overreach. Despite federal efforts to curb similar practices being stalled or struck down due to procedural challenges, New York City is moving forward with its own local protections. The administration is currently soliciting public input on the junk fee proposal, with officials expressing optimism that the measures will be finalized by the end of the year.
Beyond subscription traps and junk fees, the city council is also considering a ban on surveillance pricing, a practice where algorithms are used to charge different prices to different consumers based on their personal habits. As these policies take shape, they reflect a growing trend of local governments stepping in to provide consumer protections in response to an affordability crisis, effectively empowering working-class residents against practices that many consider fundamentally unfair.
343 comments • Comments Link
订阅管理的透明度（例如主动的续订提醒和便捷的取消途径）能显著提升用户信任和长期忠诚度。
许多现代计费和订阅平台默认采用所谓的留存漏斗（retention funnels），通过调查、令人内疚的页面和折扣等手段促使用户留下，因此开发者必须主动剔除具有欺骗性的暗黑模式以维持道德标准。
服务行业中"垃圾费用"的激增，以及预先勾选、不断增加的小费选项，很大程度上由 POS 软件供应商和信用卡公司推动，因为它们从增加的交易量和手续费中获利。
滴漏式定价（drip pricing）和隐性收费（例如未披露的酒店度假村附加费或餐厅服务费）通常被企业辩称为应对工资上涨的必要做法，但这些成本很少被透明地计入基础定价中。
要求"一价全包"定价和"一键取消"简易性的立法努力面临重大障碍，经常在市级和州级层面因为特定行业的豁免或游说而让步。
诱饵式转售策略（包括在房产列表中使用 AI 生成的图像，或通过掩盖强制性年度总额而误导性的按月订阅定价）正在导致消费者信任日益流失。
尽管小型司法管辖区难以对"垃圾费用"法规进行本地化执法，但明确的二元指令（例如要求取消订阅必须像注册一样简单）比复杂的定价法规更容易审计和执行。
大型媒体机构和知名 SaaS 公司经常被指出是实施取消迷宫式流程以将用户困在循环计费中的最严重违规者。
订阅服务对拉取式扣款系统（pull-based payment systems）的依赖，把追踪并防止未经授权扣款的负担转嫁到消费者身上，这一过时机制让那些已经删除账户或取消服务的用户感到极大沮丧。
定价透明度法律的有效性经常被 United States 的文化规范削弱——在该国，把税费隐藏到结账时才告知的传统使得全面改革在政治上变得困难。
总体来看，这反映出人们对数字经济中"服务 / 平台恶化"（enshittification）现象的日益厌倦：订阅陷阱和隐性收费已成为追求利润最大化的常态。尽管许多开发者希望与客户建立道德且透明的互动，但行业基础设施通过默认采用以留存为中心的暗黑模式来激励欺骗性行为。当前的广泛共识是，现有市场机制未能考虑失去消费者信任的长期成本，因此需要政府介入以创造更公平的竞争环境。此类法规能否成功，关键在于能否避免为特定行业留下豁免，否则即便初衷良好的政策也常被旨在维护传统不透明做法的游说所削弱。 • Transparency in subscription management, such as proactive renewal reminders and easy cancellation paths, significantly boosts user trust and long-term customer loyalty.
• Many modern billing and subscription platforms default to "retention funnels"—using surveys, guilt screens, and discount offers—which forces developers to actively strip out deceptive dark patterns to maintain ethical standards.
• The proliferation of "junk fees" and preselected, escalating tip options in service industries is largely driven by POS software providers and credit card companies, which benefit from increased transaction volumes and fees.
• Drip pricing and hidden fees, such as undisclosed hotel resort charges or restaurant service surcharges, are often defended by businesses as necessary for rising wages, yet these costs are rarely transparently integrated into base pricing.
• Legislative efforts to mandate all-in pricing and click-to-cancel simplicity face substantial hurdles, often succumbing to industry-specific carve-outs or lobbying, particularly at the municipal and state levels.
• Bait-and-switch tactics, including the use of AI-generated images in property listings or misleading monthly subscription pricing that masks mandatory annual lump sums, represent an increasing erosion of consumer trust.
• While localized enforcement of junk-fee laws is difficult for smaller jurisdictions, clear, binary mandates—like requiring cancellation to be as simple as signing up—are easier to audit and enforce than complex pricing regulations.
• Large-scale media organizations and prominent SaaS companies are frequently cited as the most egregious offenders in implementing "cancellation mazes" to trap users in recurring billing cycles.
• Reliance on pull-based payment systems for subscriptions shifts the burden onto the consumer to track and prevent unauthorized charges, an outdated mechanism that frustrates users who have already deleted accounts or cancelled services.
• The effectiveness of price transparency laws is frequently undermined by cultural norms in the United States, where the tradition of hiding taxes and fees until the point of sale makes comprehensive reform politically difficult.
The discourse reflects a growing fatigue with "enshittification" in the digital economy, where subscription traps and hidden fees have become standard, profit-maximizing practices. While many developers express a desire for ethical, transparent interactions with their customers, the industry infrastructure itself incentivizes deceptive behavior by defaulting to retention-focused dark patterns. There is a broad consensus that current market mechanisms fail to account for the long-term cost of lost consumer trust, necessitating government intervention to create a level playing field. Ultimately, the success of such regulations hinges on avoiding industry-specific carve-outs, as even well-intentioned policies are frequently weakened by lobbying to protect traditional, opaque business models.