Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
On July 14, 2025, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expected to begin the enforcement of the Click-to-Cancel Rule, which the FTC amended in 2024. The Rule’s primary purpose is to establish requirements for and prevent unfair or deceptive acts and practices in connection with a consumer’s silence or failure to act being considered as acceptance or continued acceptance of an offer.
Key requirements for sellers offering negative option features include:
- Clear and Conspicuous Disclosures: Sellers must clearly and conspicuously disclose all material terms before obtaining a consumer’s billing information. These disclosures must be easily noticeable, understandable, and, in interactive electronic media, unavoidable. They must include details about recurring charges, deadlines to prevent charges, costs, and information on how to find the cancellation mechanism. These disclosures must appear immediately adjacent to the consent mechanism and before obtaining consent.
- Express Informed Consent: Sellers must obtain the consumer’s unambiguously affirmative consent before charging them. This consent must be obtained separately from any other part of the transaction and should not be undermined by other information. For written offers, this typically means an affirmative selection like a checkbox or signature.
- Simple Cancellation (“Click to Cancel”): The rule mandates a simple mechanism for cancellation that is at least as easy to use as the mechanism the consumer used to consent. For interactive electronic media, the cancellation mechanism must be easy to find, and consumers should not be required to interact with a live or virtual representative if they did not do so to subscribe.
Misrepresenting any material fact, including terms related to the negative option feature or cancellation, is prohibited.
Click here to read the FTC’s “Click-to-Cancel” Rule, and click here to read the FTC’s statement announcing delayed enforcement.
