Signed into NYTimes.com Cooking website - got signed up for three newsletters | Clint McMahon
Clint McMahon
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I signed into the NYTimes.com cooking site and without me clicking anything got signed up for three of their cooking email newsletters.
Signed into NYTimes.com Cooking website - got signed up for three newsletters
July 23, 2026
I signed into NY Times Cooking website and immediately recieved three welcome email newsletter confirmations in my inbox just as if I had signed up for them. But I didn't just sign up for them, I never signed up for them at all. The only action I took was signing into the cooking.nytimes.com website. Theres an event trigger built into the cooking.nytimes.com authentication workflow that kicks off an email newsletter signup for users on the successful logged in event. I wonder what those parameters could be? Like is there a certain amount of time a user has been logged out to qualify to be automatically enrolled in the newsletters?
I'm a paying subscriber to the NY Times but I've never signed up for these emails. The system automatically enrolled me to these email newsletters just based on the fact that I logged in and I don't like this practice. I didn't even know this was a legit practice, but according to the FTC - it's not in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act like I would have thought.
According to the FTC, the Act doesn't require initiators of commercial email to get recipients' consent before sending them commercial email as theres no opt-in requirement. Just so long as a company follows the basic sender rules, it can legally email you until you opt out. Companies also don't need consent to send marketing emails to existing subscribers or members, and subscribers don't lose the ability to opt out just because they have a paid subscription. All they have to do is provide an opt-out method. The legal bar in the US is opt-out, not opt-in. That's why NYT can technically sign you up without you checking a box or taking any specific action.
Here are some references to the practice from the FTC site:
Recipients of emails from a sender that runs a subscription service or membership program still have the right to opt out of marketing messages from you. While you don’t need to get members’ consent to send them marketing emails, subscribers and members don’t lose their ability to opt out of marketing emails from you simply because they have a subscription or membership. ftc
The CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t require initiators of commercial email to get recipients’ consent before sending them commercial email. In other words, there is no opt-in requirement. So in general, as long as you follow the “initiator” requirements of the Act, you can send email until the recipient asks to opt out. ftc
I looked around online and was only able to find one other person who had the same experience as me with the NY Times. Went to the NYT website for a recipe. Got signed up for 3 separate newsletters without even typing my e-mail anywhere or clicking accept on anything. (Reddit). There's definitely more folks out there who have had this happen, I just couldn't find any references online about them.
I've never been signed up to an email newsletter just by signing into someone's website. I don't like this practice at all and I hope other organizations don't follow this pattern.
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