this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
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For me: Cancelling paid subscriptions should be as easy as subscribing. I hate the fact that they actively hide the unsubscribe option or that you sometimes should have to write an e-mail if you want to unsubscribe.

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[–] PartyAt15thAndSummit@lemmy.zip 12 points 6 hours ago

Dating sites besieging their users with bots and fake profiles.

[–] camelbeard@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

I don't know how this works in the US, but where I live after a year subscription (let's say for your internet provider or something). They can only renew per month. So if the year subscription is over you can cancel any service every month and they can't hit you with any fees.

Back in the day if you'd forgot to cancel your plan you'd be stuck with them for another year. It sucked!

[–] Overshoot2648@lemm.ee 22 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The FTC under Biden was actually craking down on that. It was called the "Click to Cancel" rule, but that was literally a month before the election. :/

Lina Khan was a perhaps once in a lifetime bureaucrat doing good for the people at a rapid pace on normal government timelines and now she’ll probably never get that job or a better one again.

[–] KombatWombat@lemmy.world 16 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

In the US, unsubscribing from email spam is legally required to be easy under the CAN-SPAM act. For paid subscription services, I believe they also are required to be as easy to leave as they are to join in the EU and California.

Somewhat related, many dark patterns are treated like fraud.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 36 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Loaning money to your own political campaign and then paying yourself back, including an interest rate set by you, using donor funds.

[–] higgsboson@dubvee.org 9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

There are a number of things that are legal here in the US, which would count as corruption in other places.

[–] johncandy1812@lemmy.ca 24 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Companies changing the terms of the contract on you.

[–] Wiz@midwest.social 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, but - in many of those contracts (particularly end-user license agreements) you agreed to them changing the terms of the contract. You also have an "out" - not using the product any more.

You're right though: it's slimy. Anything slimy thing can be put into a contract!

Source: I'm not a lawyer, but worked in an office with a lot of them, and worked with software license agreements in particular.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so curious now. Do you know how those apply? I mean, can they change the terms on you without notice or is that notice legally required? And say they want to feed all your data of however many years to AI. If you accidentally use it once, do they get permission for everything? What if you agree only because you want to delete your data?

I have so many questions. lol

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

You usually get an email saying something is changing. Problem is, you've already paid and if it's a material change, now you have to agree to continue using your property. Sometimes you don't get a notice and it's a "software update" that now pushes ads onto a product you bought and are now shit outta luck since you can't return it. Samsung and Roku are bad for this.

[–] hnnhmn7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

all i’m going to say is whatever shit adobe is pulling because i could yap about this forever with anyone

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Which particular part? I'm interested and somewhat outside of the situation.

[–] hnnhmn7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 hours ago

the fact that they decided to charge $90 a month and $65 to cancel is truly evil

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 31 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Any type of exit fee like account closing. Any costs for leaving should be charges before leaving as part of business costs either at the start or part of monthly or whatever. Leaving should be free.

[–] Elaine@lemm.ee 1 points 3 minutes ago

Looking at you, Adobe.

[–] libra00@lemmy.world 67 points 20 hours ago (9 children)

Advertising. At what point did we as a society decide that it was perfectly acceptable for companies to manipulate us - especially children - into buying shit we don't need and didn't even want until the ad sold us on it? It's fucking wild.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Marketing wasn’t really a thing until sometime around the Industrial Revolution and post-WW1. Before then, we didn’t really have the capacity to produce more than what people needed. Marketing basically just consisted of “here’s my product, here’s why it’s superior to others.” But with the post-war boom and the rise in manufacturing, producers were suddenly able to out-produce the demand. So they invented marketing, to get people to buy things that they didn’t actually need. The idea of “create a problem so you can sell the solution” was born.

[–] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 23 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Adblocking feels to me like it should be illegal, but isn’t. I have adblockers on all my devices and haven’t seen an ad for years; it feels like a secret super power and stopped the web from looking like a trashy back alley.

[–] harsh3466@lemmy.ml 30 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I am always shocked when I have to use a browser without an ad blocker. How do people tolerate it?

I mean, I get it. I know many people have no idea about adblocking, etc. But goddam. It's so awful without it.

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

You should rawdog fox news sometime. Their cookie pop-up is WILD

[–] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 14 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I love how I’ve lost all perspective on what a “normal” ad is. Whenever I see one I’m often either super confused at the approach or it’s so bland I just don’t care. Once you stop seeing them routinely they feel so ridiculous

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[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 36 points 19 hours ago (3 children)
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[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 87 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Corporations that don't pay taxes being allowed to make millions in profit while their employees qualify for welfare because they pay them so little.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 19 points 21 hours ago

What's worse is those same organisations get corporate welfare (tax breaks) but fight tooth and nail to prevent their workers from getting it.

[–] NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.world 20 points 22 hours ago

They should just make it so that whatever they announce as their "earnings" to their stockholders should also be the amount that they are taxed for.

[–] libra00@lemmy.world 37 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

EULAs that say 'using this indicates your acceptance of these terms'. Seems like it ought to be illegal but it's super common.

[–] Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world 1 points 16 minutes ago

Surprisingly a lot of clauses in EULAS are and get "stricken" (even though this one still stands).

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 15 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

Just because they put it in the terms doesn't it legal.

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[–] hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world 41 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Biden administration was working on making that unsubscribe bullshit illegal last year. But then Trump so those tactics will probably be mandatory pretty soon...

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[–] Tiptopit@feddit.org 31 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Leaving a supermarket without buying anything

[–] SmokingCookie@lemmy.world 17 points 18 hours ago

That largely depends on what you take with you as you leave.

[–] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 14 points 19 hours ago

Going through TSA.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Riding down a mountain road on a bicycle, going 50 mph, without a helmet on.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 13 hours ago

That is illegal in a bunch of places, riding a bike without a helmet

[–] ChickenAndRice@sh.itjust.works 11 points 19 hours ago

Ripping a tag from a pillow that says "Under Penalty of Law: Not to be Removed By Anyone but the Consumer"

[–] Today@lemmy.world 24 points 22 hours ago (7 children)

My car insurance goes up as my car loses value. Years ago you could choose to only insure it up to a certain amount. My kids drove an older car and i designated $10k in insurance for it. That cut the insurance price to about 60%. Texas no longer allows that.

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