Samuel AA Levine has a simple complaint about New York City residents: they do not complain enough. The newly appointed commissioner of consumer and worker protection wants the 30,000 grievances his office receives annually to climb sharply, signaling just how aggressive he intends to be in tackling what he sees as rampant corporate deception.
Levine arrives in City Hall with battle scars from his previous role leading the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection division under President Biden. He sued self-storage companies, extracted millions from Uber Eats and Amazon, targeted hotel hidden charges, and cracked down on delivery apps' wage-suppressing design tactics. Now he is weaponizing a smaller but scrappier municipal agency to wage war on junk fees and subscription traps that have infuriated American consumers for years.
The stakes are substantial. By June, New York could become the first U.S. city with a "click to cancel" law, forcing companies doing business with New Yorkers to make subscription cancellations as simple as signing up. Such a rule already sparked an industry firestorm when Levine proposed it in Washington.
Levine does not mince words about the problem. "The United States has suffered a decades-long epidemic of corporate lawbreaking with very few repercussions," he told journalists in recent interviews. Corporate law firms and industry groups have already labeled his enforcement posture "aggressive." His response is unapologetic.
"Corporations that rip people off need to face consequences," he said. "I don't think that's radical. I think it's common sense."
The commissioner views the explosion in deceptive digital tactics as a relatively recent phenomenon, even if subscription schemes existed in the 1990s. What changed was scale, investor appetite, and artificial intelligence. "Venture capital loves it," he explained. "You have automatic recurring billing, which is much more common now, and enrollment online. Once you start having billions of interactions to analyze, as large companies do, you can really start to see patterns. And of course, AI is a turbocharger."
Companies use deliberate friction in their cancellation processes, he contends. "They use dark patterns and other design tricks to generate deliberate friction. It's deeply manipulative," Levine said. "These companies do A/B testing to see what is more likely to inhibit cancellation. This is a deliberate business strategy of ripping people off."
A Smaller Agency With Big Ambitions
Levine has pushed back against suggestions that his office should soften its tone toward businesses. While he acknowledges legitimate complaints about New York City's high operating costs and difficult business environment, he frames enforcement as a matter of fairness, not hostility. Honest competitors suffer when bad actors break the rules, he argues, and the industry itself benefits from a level playing field.
His enforcement machinery is less flashy than federal regulators but potentially more nimble. When New Yorkers call 3-1-1 with consumer complaints, the city routes them to his office. Rather than filing grievances away, mediators reach out to offending companies and attempt to recover money and cancel subscriptions. If patterns emerge, enforcement actions follow in city and state court, along with civil penalties paid to the city.
The click-to-cancel rule dodges the procedural pitfall that derailed the FTC's national version. A federal judge struck down that rule on technical grounds, finding the FTC needed another round of public comment. But New York City's legal framework differs. The city can prohibit "deceptive or unconscionable" practices, Levine noted. "I think we're on very solid ground on that."
Opposition was ferocious when Levine championed click-to-cancel in Washington. "It was an onslaught by every industry group because this is hugely profitable," he recalled. Cable companies, telecommunications firms, alarm companies, and the Chamber of Commerce mobilized against it. Trapping people in unwanted subscriptions is literally a billion-dollar business.
Beyond subscriptions, Levine is targeting junk fees broadly. New York already has what he calls the strongest hotel junk fee rule in the nation. Compliance warnings have gone out to most licensed industries. Lawsuits have followed. He expects additional policy initiatives and coordination with other agencies to expand the assault on hidden charges throughout 2026, when he believes momentum will peak.
The question of partnership with the Trump administration remains open. Levine said he would be willing to work with federal officials if genuine cooperation served consumers. "If they want to elevate good outcomes over politics, then we'd be happy to work with them," he said.
Author James Rodriguez: "Levine is betting that if you can't stop corporate lawbreaking in Washington, at least you can make New York City miserable for the companies doing it."
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