The Subscription Maze: One Click to Join, Twenty to Leave
Illustration by Gemini.[1]
One Friday evening after
a long work week, Mary signed up for a seven-day free trial to stream a
television series everyone was talking about. She made a mental note to cancel
before the week was up, but life got in the way, and she forgot. Eight days
later, her bank account was debited KES 9,800 for a full year's subscription.
There was no reminder from the platform beforehand. She logged in to cancel,
expecting it to be as quick as signing up had been. Instead, she was funneled
through menu after menu, repeated confirmation prompts and offers designed to
make her stay.
It took her less than a
minute to sign up and over twenty, spread across several days, to get her money
back.
Mary's experience is not an
outlier. It is fast becoming a norm for digital platforms users.
At the 9th Meeting of the
UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy
held in Geneva, Switzerland in July 2026, consumer protection in digital
markets featured prominently. The discussion reflected on the rapid growth of
e-commerce worldwide, noting that global e-commerce sales have reached US$6.42
trillion, with an estimated 2.77 billion consumers shopping online in 2025, an
estimated 20% of the global retail sales[1].
34% of online shoppers buy something at least once a week, and 99% consult
online reviews before purchasing. Trust is indeed central to the consumer
journey.
But that same expansion
of digital commerce has created increasingly sophisticated ways of shaping consumer
behavior[2] as
well as anti-competitive concerns. Across platforms, two dark patterns are
conspicuous, in my opinion.
The first is forced
continuity where free trial periods are converted into paid subscriptions, as
happened to Mary. The platform deliberately withholds a reminder before the
trial period lapses. A reminder would allow the consumer to, clearly and
freely, choose whether to pay or cancel the purchase. Unfortunately, where the
purchase is progressed, albeit forcefully, the cancellation process is arduous.
False urgency, on the
other hand, happens where scarcity is manufactured through countdown timers and
alerts such as "only one room left", "12 people viewing
this" or “two seats left” or unclear discounts that deliberately attempt
to nudge consumers into making purchases.
Both patterns rely on a
simple assumption; that platforms will act in good faith and warn consumers before
money leaves their account. Businesses count on the opposite: that consumers defer
cancellation until the last minute, forget to opt out of the trial period, that
the fear of losing out on that last hotel room or deal will push them to make
decisions shaped more by manipulation than choice.
And consumer welfare regulators have taken notice.
In 2024, the United
States Federal Trade Commission[3]
sued Adobe, alleging the company locked consumers into year-long subscriptions
through hidden early termination fees and a maze of cancellation hurdles. Years
earlier, in 2017, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority[4]
investigated hotel-booking sites over messages like "only one room
left!" and inflated "people viewing" alerts, warning that such
signals can mislead consumers into making rushed decisions. These enforcement
interventions point to an evolving regulatory environment, where the focus is not
on only whether consumers were outrightly misled, but if they were free to make
choices without undue pressure.
Constitution of Kenya guarantees consumers
access to information necessary to gain the full benefit from goods and
services. Additionally, the consumer protection provisions in the Competition Act
prohibit unfair and misleading business practices. But these frameworks may
need to evolve further to keep pace with a marketplace where manipulation
happens through design, not just words.
Three strategies are worth considering.
First, regulatory guidelines
should require platforms that cancelling a subscription be made just as easy as
signing up. Subscription services should send clear renewal reminders stating
the exact amount, the renewal date, and a direct cancellation link. Also,
claims of urgency and scarcity should be capable of substantiation.
Secondly, the Competition
Authority of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya, the Central Bank and
the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner should prioritize establishing a
coordinated monitoring framework, because digital manipulation cuts across consumer
protection, competition, financial regulation and data privacy.
Lastly, competition and
consumer protection policy must work hand in hand to keep markets genuinely competitive.
Firms that compete fairly on quality, price and service should not lose
customers to rivals that win through manipulation rather than better offerings.
Left unchecked, such behavior can tilt markets away from innovation and toward deception,
to the detriment of everyone especially consumers.
Revisiting Mary's story:
KES 9,800 might look like a small inconvenience. But multiplied across
thousands of households every single day, these manipulative designs quietly
transfer millions of shillings from consumers to businesses, not through free
choice, but through decisions engineered to feel like one.
[1] Ecommerce Trix,
'Ecommerce Statistics' (Ecommerce Trix) <https://www.ecommercetrix.com/ecommerce-statistics/ecommerce-statistics/>
accessed 25 August 2026.
[2] OECD, 'Dark
commercial patterns' (OECD Digital Economy Papers No 336, OECD Publishing 2022)
<https://doi.org/10.1787/44f5e846-en>
accessed 25 August 2026.
[3] Department of
Justice, 'United States Files Complaint Against Adobe and Two Adobe Executives
for Alleged Violations of Consumer Protection Laws' (Department of Justice,
17 June 2024) <https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/united-states-files-complaint-against-adobe-and-two-adobe-executives-alleged-violations>
accessed 25 August 2026.
[4] Competition and
Markets Authority, 'CMA launches consumer law investigation into hotel booking
sites' (GOV.UK, 27 October 2017) <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-launches-consumer-law-investigation-into-hotel-booking-sites>
accessed 25 August 2026.
[i]
Ninette is a policy and
research professional who oversees the Authority’s research, planning, and
policy functions.
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