The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed enforcement of the Negative Option Rule — specifically the new click-to-cancel rule — which would require businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription or membership as it is to sign up.
The President Trump has certainly taken a different approach to governing in 2025, with a wide range of executive orders undoing previous rulings from the past administration.
That may well end up being the case for the click-to-cancel rule, with the delay from the FTC pointing to the agencies willingness to protect business interests in the face of widespread consumer complaints.
What Is the Click-to-Cancel Rule?
The click-to-cancel rule is an amendment to the Negative Option Rule from the FTC that will — eventually — make it a requirement for businesses to provide simple means to cancel subscriptions and memberships.
The new rule was proposed in March 2023 and was officially ratified in October 2024. The rule technically went into effect on January 19th this year, but strict enforcement wasn’t supposed to hit until May 14th.
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However, the FTC has announced that it will not be enforcing the ruling this week, instead pushing the deadline by 60 days to July 14th, 2025.
Why Has Enforcement Been Delayed?
According to the announcement from the FTC, the agency is delaying enforcement of the click-to-cancel rule because “compliance entailed some level of difficulty,” which has prevented companies from being able to make it happen before the deadline.
“Having conducted a fresh assessment of the burdens that forcing compliance by this date would impose, the Commission has determined that the original deferral period insufficiently accounted for the complexity of compliance. To ensure ample time for companies to conform their conduct to the Rule, the Commission will exercise its enforcement discretion by further deferring the compliance deadline.” – FTC spokesperson
The announcement goes on to say that companies must be in compliance by the new deadline, but also that it is “open to amending the Rule” if more unforeseen problems arise from its implementation.
Will the Click-to-Cancel Rule Ever Be Enforced?
The click-to-cancel rule was proposed and eventually passed because of a massive increase in consumer complaints. The FTC had received nearly 70 consumer complaints per day about the difficulty of canceling subscriptions and memberships that were costing them money.
“Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription. The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.” – previous FTC Chair Lina M. Khan
However, given the current administration’s proclivity for undoing its predecessor’s rulings, it’s completely reasonable to wonder whether or not the click-to-cancel will actually be enforced, particularly when you consider how many businesses are fighting to get it overturned.
A trade group consisting of businesses like Disney, Comcast, COX, and Warner Bros Discovery has been attempting to block the ruling from taking effect by suing the FTC for overstepping its powers. With that kind of power behind the efforts to shut it down, this delay could easily turn into a permanent halt.
