Deceptive Patterns
‹ All examples New York Times

The New York Times: Forces users to chat or call to cancel subscriptions

Author
Dark Patterns Tip Line
Date
13 Apr 2021

“Instead of providing a direct button to cancel your subscription, a person must chat with a customer care advocate or call the company within certain business hours to cancel. This dark pattern was publicly shared on Twitter by @melanie_seibert .”

The New York Times was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over its subscription cancellation process. According to the report, instead of providing a direct button to cancel, the company requires the customer to chat with a customer-care advocate or telephone the company within certain business hours in order to cancel.