{"id":150898,"date":"2026-07-14T04:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/150898\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T04:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:43:09","slug":"former-ftc-chairman-lina-khan-who-many-ceos-in-silicon-valley-said-went-too-far-sends-a-thanks-note-to-zohran-mamdani-for-bringing-what-she","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/150898\/","title":{"rendered":"Former FTC chairman Lina Khan, who many CEOs in Silicon Valley said went too far, sends a thanks note to Zohran Mamdani for bringing what she …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Former Former FTC<\/a> chairman Lina Khan has sent a thanks note to Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> for ‘Click-to-Cancel’ rule he announced recently. New York will become the first city in the US to require that consumers be allowed to cancel subscriptions for streaming services, gym memberships and more in the way that they signed up. FTC’s ex-chairman Lina Khan commended Mamdani for the same. “Thanks to Mayor Mamdani\u2019s administration, businesses must now make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. New Yorkers can report subscription tricks and traps by calling 311 or filing a complaint at http:\/\/nyc.gov\/consumer,” she wrote.Lina Khan was made the head of FTC in 2021 by the former US President Joe Biden. During her four-year tenure she had many fights with technology companies including Amazon, Google, Meta and Nvidia. In Silicon Valley, many industry leaders are of the view that she went too far. There were reported to be significant courtroom victories under her, including the block on Kroger\u2019s $25 billion merger with Albertsons. The chip giant Nvidia reportedly abandoned its $40 billion bid for Arm, after the FTC sued to block the deal. There were also losses, such as FTC’s failed bid to block Microsoft\u2019s $69 billion (\u00a357bn) deal to buy Activision Blizzard, publisher of mega gaming franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.Incidentally, in March 2023, FTC announced a proposed \u201cclick to cancel\u201d provision requiring sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up. That is just one of several significant updates the Commission is proposing to its rules regarding subscriptions and recurring payments. The new click to cancel provision, along with other proposals, would go a long way to rescuing consumers from seemingly never-ending struggles to cancel unwanted subscription payment plans for everything from cosmetics to newspapers to gym memberships.\u201cSome businesses too often trick consumers into paying for subscriptions they no longer want or didn\u2019t sign up for in the first place,\u201d said FTC’s then-Chair Lina Khan. She added, \u201cThe proposed rule would require that companies make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. The proposal would save consumers time and money, and businesses that continued to use subscription tricks and traps would be subject to stiff penalties.\u201dThe notice of proposed rulemaking announced was part of the FTC\u2019s ongoing review of its 1973 Negative Option Rule, which the agency uses to combat unfair or deceptive practices related to subscriptions, memberships, and other recurring-payment programs.<\/p>\n

What is Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Click-to-Cancel’ rule<\/p>\n

New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine announced new consumer protections that will crack down on junk fees and subscription traps, making it easier for New Yorkers to know the real price of what they are buying and to stop paying for the services they no longer want.Following Mayor Mamdani\u2019s Executive Orders 9 and 10, the City announced a proposed rule requiring transparent, all-in pricing that bans hidden junk fees, alongside a final \u201cClick to Cancel\u201d rule that guarantees consumers can cancel subscriptions as easily as they sign up for them.Together, these rules represent one of the strongest municipal consumer protection efforts in the country and build upon Mayor Mamdani\u2019s affordability agenda, including the City\u2019s rule banning hidden hotel fees. The Click-to-Cancel Rule alone is estimated to save New Yorkers up to $162.5 million per year.\u201cFor years, companies have built their business model around making it harder for working people to hold onto their money,\u201d said Mayor Mamdani. \u201cWhether it\u2019s 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. If you can sign up with one click, you can cancel with one click.\u201d \u201cEvery dollar a family loses to a hidden fee or a subscription they couldn\u2019t cancel is a dollar stolen from them, a dollar that could have gone toward rent, groceries, childcare, or anything else. And just as important, the hours spent trying to cancel a subscription or membership you no longer want is stolen time,\u201d said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. \u201cThat\u2019s what affordability means in practice\u2014closing the small holes that drain people\u2019s paychecks and their time month after month. These rules put New Yorkers back in control.\u201d \u201cThe Mamdani Administration is shutting the door on the era of fleecing New Yorkers with junk fees and subscription traps,\u201d said Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine. \u201cThese two rules will ensure that the price you see is the price you pay\u2014no hidden charges, no endless subscription services and no advantages for businesses that cheat. Requiring companies to compete on price will lower costs for all New Yorkers and level the playing field for honest businesses.\u201d\u201cNobody should be trapped in subscriptions they can\u2019t escape or stuck paying junk fees they can\u2019t avoid,\u201d said Lina Khan, former FTC Chair. \u201cThese predatory tactics cheat people out of billions of dollars each year. With today\u2019s rules, Commissioner Levine and DCWP are cracking down on corporate ripoffs, protecting families and honest businesses alike. The Mamdani administration\u2019s 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\u2019s levers to improve life for New Yorkers.\u201d \u201cNew Yorkers across the five boroughs are feeling the squeeze of the affordability crisis as they pay more and more for less and less. Junk fees and subscription traps add to this, costing families an average of $3,200 per year. Big companies can\u2019t play by their own rules, charging customers for things they don\u2019t want or need. I applaud Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Julie Su and Commissioner Sam Levine for taking action to stop these exploitative business practices and lower costs for everyday New Yorkers,\u201d said State Senator Kristen Gonzalez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former FTC chairman Lina Khan has sent a thanks note to Mayor Zohran Mamdani for ‘Click-to-Cancel’ rule he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[148],"tags":[34972,70924,41034,559,553],"class_list":["post-150898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zohran-mamdani","tag-ftc","tag-levine","tag-lina-khan","tag-mamdani","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116916506258940333","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}