The FTC click-to-cancel rule: status and what still applies

The Negative Option Rule is an older FTC rule on sales in which silence counts as acceptance, such as a subscription that renews unless you say no. In October 2024 the FTC announced amendments to it that the press called the click-to-cancel rule. The FTC publishes the rule and its Federal Register notices on its Negative Option Rule page.

As amended, the rule was written to cover subscriptions, memberships, free trials that turn into paid plans and similar offers. Its main requirements were these.

• Cancellation as easy as sign-up. A seller had to provide a simple way to cancel that was at least as easy as the way you enrolled.
• The same channel. If you signed up online, you had to be able to cancel online. If you signed up by phone, you had to be able to cancel by phone.
• No forced conversation. A seller could not make you speak to a live agent to cancel unless that was how you enrolled.
• Clear terms first. A seller had to disclose the key terms of the offer before taking your billing information, and get your express consent to the recurring charge.
• No misleading claims. A seller could not misrepresent any material fact while marketing the offer.

The amendments were due to take effect in 2025. They never became enforceable, because a court set them aside first.

Trade groups and companies challenged the amendments in court. On July 8, 2025, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled in Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, No. 24-3137 that the FTC had not followed a required step in its rulemaking process, a preliminary regulatory analysis, and vacated the rule. The court decided the case on procedure. It did not rule that online cancellation is a bad idea or that sellers may make cancelling hard.

To vacate a rule is to set it aside, as if it had not taken effect. The click-to-cancel amendment is not current law. Do not rely on it, and do not quote it to a company as binding.

The older parts of the Negative Option Rule that existed before 2024 were not the target of the challenge. They concern prenotification plans, the kind of club that ships you an item unless you decline it, and they are not a general cancellation rule for modern subscriptions.

After the decision the FTC said it was reviewing its options. In February 2026 it published a Federal Register notice revising the rule text to conform it to court decisions. On March 11, 2026 it announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking asking for public comment on whether and how to address deceptive or unfair negative option practices, with comments open until April 13, 2026. You can read the announcement in the FTC press release.

An advance notice is the first step of a long process. As of October 25, 2026, the FTC's rule page shows no proposed or final rule after it. If the FTC adopts a new rule, it will have to follow the full process, and we will update this guide.

ROSCA says the mechanism must be simple, but it does not spell out the click-by-click detail the amendment would have. That is why state law matters. California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Virginia and several other states require online cancellation, or cancellation through the way you signed up, for contracts that renew automatically. Our guide to automatic renewal laws by state lists each statute with its citation.

Your card issuer is the third layer. You can dispute a charge for a subscription you cancelled, and the FTC's advice on getting in and out of subscriptions recommends reading the terms and keeping records of how you cancelled.

1. 1

   Cancel by the clearest route the company offers

   Use the account page, the app or the phone number if one works. If a company hides the option or refuses, that matters under ROSCA and under your state's law.

2. 2

   Put it in writing

   Write to the company with your account details and the date you want the plan to end. Use the cancellation letter template, or find your company to send a letter.

3. 3

   Keep proof

   Save confirmation emails, screenshots and the delivery record of your letter. Our guide to how to cancel an automatic renewal walks through the sequence from start to finish.

4. 4

   Name the right law

   In a follow-up or a complaint, cite ROSCA and your state's statute. Do not cite the vacated amendment. If the company keeps charging you, see what to do if a company keeps charging you.

Rules in this area change, and the FTC may act again. We list only sources we read in full on the review date, and the dates above are the ones in the court and agency documents themselves.