NYC Mayor Mamdani looks to tighten consumer protections, targets 'junk fees'

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Jan 5, 2026

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued directives Monday aimed at strengthening protections by directing the city’s consumer protections agency to crack down on tactics like “junk fees” and subscription “traps.”

As part of his affordability-centered campaign, Mamdani said he would strengthen the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, or DCWP. The orders largely direct the agency to use existing laws to more strongly go after bad actors.

“These fees are not only making it harder for our neighbors to afford life in the city: They are also a sign of disdain and disrespect that corporations and bad landlords hold for working people,” the mayor said at the Long Island City, Queens, news conference.

“When you scrimp and save for a Taylor Swift concert that you have been looking forward to all year, only for a massive corporation to add hundreds of dollars at the final moment, that is disrespect.”

“Junk fees” are charges added to the price tag of an item or service, and subscription “traps” are recurring payments that are often masked to consumers as free trials or one-time deals.

Mamdani has previously said he intended to remodel the agency, which has largely taken a less assertive role in recent years, into a more aggressive consumer watchdog. The mayor appointed Federal Trade Commission alum Sam Levine to lead the department and has been working with former FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan, who headed his transition.

The mayor has also promised to double the agency’s roughly $65 million budget and expand staff by an unspecified number of heads, though he didn’t discuss those goals during Monday’s announcement.

His executive order on extra fees will establish a “Junk Fee Task Force” led by Levine and Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and encourages DCWP to pursue enforcement actions against companies engaged in devious practices. The second order, concerning subscriptions, also directs DCWP to work with the City Council to pursue new laws making it harder to sign New Yorkers up for monthly payments they might not anticipate.

“What I’m most excited about is the partnership between the City Council and the new administration around consumer and worker protection,” presumptive Council Speaker Julie Menin, who appeared alongside Mamdani, said. “We jointly are going to have some of the most aggressive consumer and worker protections in the country.”

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