Appeals Court Blocks FTC’s ‘Click to Cancel’ Rule Meant to Simplify Subscription Cancellations

The court found that the FTC skipped a legally required economic analysis before imposing rules on subscription cancellations.
Appeals Court Blocks FTC’s ‘Click to Cancel’ Rule Meant to Simplify Subscription Cancellations
The Federal Trade Commission in Washington on Aug. 6, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
Tom Ozimek
Tom Ozimek
Reporter
|Updated:
0:00

A federal appeals court has thrown out the “click to cancel” rule of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), concluding that the agency violated procedural requirements when crafting regulations aimed at making it easier for consumers to cancel subscription services.

In a ruling issued on July 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the FTC’s Negative Option Rule, which was designed to combat “negative option” marketing, the practice of treating a consumer’s silence or failure to cancel as an agreement to continue—and be charged for—products or services.
Tom Ozimek
Tom Ozimek
Reporter
Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.
twitter