I mean, ToS aside, it's probably illegal. It's arguably wire fraud, and quite likely breach of contract.
MoviePass made false representations by internet "for obtaining money", and knowingly deprived paying customers of tangible property (i.e. movie tickets and/or monthly payments). Specifically targeting power users makes the financial motive pretty undeniable, and timing it to delay them while a popular movie sold out shows that tangible loss was the intent. Before 2010, it would probably have been honest services fraud to boot - as Scalia opined, everything was honest services fraud - but that's been narrowed to bribes and kickbacks. It wouldn't be a trivial conviction since the company wasn't outright robbing people (e.g. by disabling the accounts altogether) but "plausibly a felony" isn't where most of us like to do business.
More convincingly, it's the sort of thing that could invite class action lawsuits or demands for refunds. The ToS may not have covered this specific action, but fraudulent misrepresentation is still grounds to seek damages in a contract.
MoviePass made false representations by internet "for obtaining money", and knowingly deprived paying customers of tangible property (i.e. movie tickets and/or monthly payments). Specifically targeting power users makes the financial motive pretty undeniable, and timing it to delay them while a popular movie sold out shows that tangible loss was the intent. Before 2010, it would probably have been honest services fraud to boot - as Scalia opined, everything was honest services fraud - but that's been narrowed to bribes and kickbacks. It wouldn't be a trivial conviction since the company wasn't outright robbing people (e.g. by disabling the accounts altogether) but "plausibly a felony" isn't where most of us like to do business.
More convincingly, it's the sort of thing that could invite class action lawsuits or demands for refunds. The ToS may not have covered this specific action, but fraudulent misrepresentation is still grounds to seek damages in a contract.