The Economist: Tricky subscription cancellation

Jan 6, 2022

1 min read

The same as The New York Times, The Economist uses the Roach Motel dark pattern and asks users to call or text customer support services in order to cancel the subscription.

Roach Motel can be considered as one of the most used dark patterns by many newspapers online in order to keep you subscribed.

This Case Includes

💡

Roach Motel

This dark pattern is usually used for subscription services. It is easy to sign up for it, but it's much harder to cancel it (i.e. you have to call customer support).