Lawmakers in California hit back at hard-to-cancel subscriptions

[phillynews215]

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

• Governor Newsom just signed a “click-to-cancel” bill into California law.
• The legislation will require companies to allow you to cancel online subscriptions as easily as you signed up.
• Companies have until July 2025 to comply with the new measures.

One of the things that many of us hate about tech is when a company makes it easy to sign up for a subscription online but makes it much harder to cancel that recurring payment. You’ll often be directed to call a phone number instead, only to be dogged by automated menus and hold music as you try to escape the financial commitment. To counter that kind of deliberate move by service providers, Californian lawmakers are now clamping down on the practice by signing a new click-to-cancel measure into law.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of consumer protection bills on Wednesday, with Assembly Bill 2863 focusing on eliminating unfair subscription practices. This new law mandates that businesses offering subscription services must provide a straightforward, user-friendly method for cancelation that mirrors the process used to sign up.




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