You’ll be able to cancel your Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ or other streaming service with a single click in the US as of next year.
Those of you of a certain vintage might have once upon a time got your internet access through an AOL free trial. Infamously, these trials were very easy to set up, but it felt like you needed a background in espionage to work out how to cancel before that trial ended.
It’s an example of a ‘subscription trap’, where trying to cancel a service becomes akin to an end of level boss battle.
However, in America, a move has been announced by the Federal Trade Commission – FTC to its mates – that means the days of such subscription traps are coming to an end.
An assortment of changes are coming in. Firstly, when you click to cancel a subscription, businesses are now not allowed to redirect you to an AI chatbot or something of that ilk, or an actual human being, to try and persuade you to change your mind.
Secondly, businesses will now have to get specific consent to take a free trial and then turn it into a paid subscription. Had that law existed back in 1997 or so, then maybe nobody would even have heard of AOL.
Also, even if you sign up for something in person, you’re to be allowed the option to cancel online or by phone.
It’s a welcome collection of changes that’s going to come into American law in the first half of 2025. Inevitably, it’s going to have an impact on streaming services. As someone who’s just cancelled a streaming subscription, I can confirm that we’re still a little way away from the single click to do so that American authorities will be demanding.
There’s no exact equivalent on the statute books in UK law at the moment, although there is movement in that area.
Quite how the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon et al are going to be affected by the changes remains to be seen. But the idea of a single click to cancel a subscription sounds like long overdue progress…
