02
Subscriptions
Click to subscribe. Call, beg and wait to cancel.
America’s federal click-to-cancel rule was struck down days before taking effect. The dark pattern survived the reform designed to kill it.
7 min read
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Subscriptions
Recurring charges, retention friction and the business of making exit harder.
10
Subscriptions
Shutterstock made the subscription easy to start—and hard to leave.
The FTC says Shutterstock charged consumers without informed consent and built a cancellation process that pushed people through support channels instead of a simple exit.
6 min read
11
Subscriptions
Netflix raised every plan. The catalogue did not get bigger overnight.
A 2026 price increase touched every Netflix tier, continuing a pattern in which streaming services move customers from growth pricing to extraction pricing.
5 min read
13
Subscriptions
Amazon called the cancellation flow an Iliad. Customers called it a trap.
A $2.5 billion FTC settlement over Prime enrollment and cancellation practices turned a notorious dark pattern into a refund process.
6 min read
26
Subscriptions
The UK is trying to make a subscription’s exit door visible.
Proposed UK subscription measures would make renewals clearer and cancellation less punishing. The important work is turning the promise into the actual interface people use.
5 min read
28
Subscriptions
Futurehome put the smart in smart home behind an annual bill.
Futurehome’s support terms say that, without a subscription, customers lose app control, automations, modes and energy services for hardware already installed in their homes.
6 min read
34
Subscriptions
A fake message became a paid answer.
US regulators say NGL used messages that appeared to come from real people to steer users into paid subscriptions, then charged some users recurring weekly fees they did not expect.
5 min read
37
Subscriptions
“No hidden fees” was an add-on.
The companies behind the Hopper travel apps agreed to pay US$35 million to settle US allegations that they pre-selected fees described as optional and misrepresented some travel-product benefits.
5 min read
42
Subscriptions
A one-time project should not renew itself.
Shutterstock agreed to pay US$35 million to settle US allegations that it obscured renewal and cancellation terms, charged some consumers without informed consent, and made early cancellation difficult.
5 min read
45
Subscriptions
Prime made joining easy. Leaving became a case file.
The US Federal Trade Commission says Amazon’s US$2.5 billion Prime settlement includes refunds for eligible customers affected by challenged enrolment and cancellation flows.
6 min read
46
Subscriptions
“Cancel anytime” needs to survive the cancellation screen.
The US FTC is pursuing Uber over allegations that its Uber One membership charged people without consent, overstated savings and made cancellation difficult despite “cancel anytime” claims.
5 min read