How WordPress.com’s Gift Subscription Feature Turned Into Extortion!

Introduction

For over a decade, I have been a loyal customer of WordPress.com, managing more than two dozen websites on their platform. Recently, however, I experienced an unsettling incident that not only damaged my trust in the platform but also raised questions about the ethics of their practices. When I purchased a new domain on WordPress.com, I suddenly found that a feature called “gift subscription” was automatically enabled without my consent, prompting visitors to “support” my website by purchasing a plan. This felt like a violation, as I had never intended to monetize my site in this way.

The most troubling part? I was almost pressured into purchasing a plan myself — just to get rid of the intrusive banner. Only after extensive digging did I discover an obscure option to disable it. Even then, the process was unnecessarily convoluted, making me question whether WordPress.com was deliberately making it difficult for users to opt out. This experience felt disturbingly close to extortion.

The Problem: Automatic Activation Without Consent

When I purchased a new domain, my intention was simple: create a straightforward website with no special hosting or additional features. However, without any warning or consent, WordPress.com activated the “gift subscription” feature on my site. Suddenly, visitors were seeing a banner suggesting they could buy a gift to support the site. This was done without my approval, and it came across as a manipulative tactic to pressure visitors into spending money.

To make matters worse, I was initially under the impression that the only way to remove this intrusive feature was to purchase one of WordPress.com’s paid plans — costing nearly $100. This felt like coercion. It wasn’t until I dug deep into the platform’s settings that I discovered a hidden option to disable the feature. Even then, navigating to that setting was anything but intuitive.

This automatic activation of monetization features, paired with the lack of clear communication, feels like a breach of trust for paying customers like myself, who have been loyal for over a decade.

The Impact on Website Owners

For those of us who have been using WordPress.com for years, such practices feel like a betrayal. Automatically activating a feature that prompts visitors to spend money on your website can damage your reputation, especially if your visitors believe you’re actively soliciting funds. It erodes the trust that website owners have built with their audiences and can lead to confusion among users who don’t understand why such features suddenly appeared.

Furthermore, for website owners who aren’t tech-savvy, this pressure to purchase a plan simply to remove the feature can result in unnecessary financial burdens. The fact that the option to disable it is so difficult to find suggests that WordPress.com might be intentionally making it hard to opt-out, pushing users towards a purchase.

Legal and Ethical Implications

The actions of WordPress.com may have potential legal implications, especially if they can be construed as coercive practices. Here are some key legal concerns:

• Lack of Clear Consent: Activating a monetization feature on a customer’s site without explicit consent could be seen as a deceptive business practice. Depending on the jurisdiction, this could violate consumer protection laws that require transparency in online services.
• Coercion and Extortion-like Practices: The fact that users might feel pressured to purchase a plan just to remove an unwanted feature could be interpreted as a form of digital extortion. By making it difficult to disable the feature, WordPress.com may be exploiting their customers’ lack of technical expertise to extract more revenue.
• Breach of Trust: Long-term paying customers, like myself, who have relied on WordPress.com for years, may argue that these unexpected changes violate the implied terms of our relationship with the platform. If WordPress.com’s terms of service did not clearly outline the introduction of such features, there could be grounds for a legal challenge.

The Bigger Picture: Trust and Platform Overreach

This incident is part of a broader trend where major platforms prioritize profits over the trust and autonomy of their users. By quietly enabling monetization schemes, they shift the burden onto website owners, effectively turning their own customers into a source of revenue.

Such practices not only damage the reputation of platforms like WordPress.com but also create a toxic relationship with long-standing customers. In an era where user trust is paramount, these tactics can drive users away to more transparent and user-friendly alternatives.

Recommendations for WordPress.com

1. Transparency and Consent: WordPress.com should clearly inform users before enabling any monetization feature. Users should be able to opt-in, not have to opt-out.
2. Simplify the Opt-out Process: If users want to disable a feature, it should be easy to find in the settings menu, not hidden behind layers of menus.
3. Respect Long-Term Customers: For those of us who have been paying customers for over a decade, it is critical that our trust is valued. WordPress.com should consider grandfathering existing customers into their plans or offering them the choice to opt-out of new features by default.

Conclusion

The experience of being pushed towards purchasing a plan I didn’t want has left a bitter taste. As a paying customer who has supported WordPress.com for years, I expected better. The automatic activation of the “gift subscription” feature without consent not only disrupted my site but also damaged my relationship with the platform.

I urge WordPress.com to rethink their approach and focus on regaining the trust of their long-term users.