If you’ve ever forgotten to cancel an online subscription, you probably know the feeling of being locked into another month of a service you don’t want. Many people write this off as a cost of the digital economy. But for China’s state-run news outlet People’s Daily, auto-renewing subscriptions are a scourge that must be stopped.
In a commentary published on Tuesday, the outlet blasted Chinese app makers for automatically renewing users’ subscriptions. The practice is a “trap” for consumers and needs to be more strongly regulated, the piece argues.