Will the Federal Trade Commission bring back its “click to cancel” rule? The FTC on Wednesday announced an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking,” inviting public feedback on whether to amend its regulation for automatic subscriptions (negative option rule).
In October 2024, after years of observing rampant abuse of subscription traps harming consumers, the FTC finalized a “click to cancel,” rule to make it easier for consumers to cancel recurring subscriptions. Then just before the rule would have gone into effect, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, vacated the regulation on procedural grounds.
In its new notice, the FTC declared that “the record compiled during (the previous) rulemaking, as well as ongoing consumer complaints and recent enforcement cases, show continued unlawful negative option marketing practices in the marketplace.”
The new process follows a petition that the Consumer Federation of America and the American Economic Liberties Project filed in November 2025, seeking to reinstate the “click to cancel” rule. A separate petition filed in January 2025 also seeks changes to the regulation.
