FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule Status: Vacated in 2025, Reopened in 2026

As of mid-2026, there is no active federal "click-to-cancel" rule in force. The broad 2024 amendments to the Federal Trade Commission's Negative Option Rule — widely called the "click-to-cancel" rule — were struck down before their main compliance deadline and never took effect nationally.

On July 8, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the rule in Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC (No. 24-3137). Vacatur means the rule was wiped off the books entirely, not merely paused or delayed.

The FTC has since restarted the process. In early 2026 it reopened rulemaking on negative-option marketing, so a new rule could eventually emerge. For now, though, nothing new is binding, and this page is general information rather than legal advice.

The FTC finalized the amended Negative Option Rule in October 2024. It targeted "negative option" plans — arrangements where a consumer's silence or inaction is treated as consent to continued charges, such as auto-renewing subscriptions, free-to-paid conversions, and automatic shipments.

Key requirements included clear, conspicuous disclosure of material terms before billing; separate express informed consent to the recurring charge; and a cancellation mechanism at least as easy to use as the sign-up process — the feature that gave the rule its "click to cancel" nickname. It also prohibited certain misrepresentations.

The most significant provisions carried a compliance deadline of July 14, 2025. The Eighth Circuit's decision landed on July 8, 2025, days before that deadline, so companies were never actually required to comply with these amendments.

The court did not rule on whether click-to-cancel protections are good or bad policy. It vacated the rule on procedural grounds under Section 22 of the FTC Act, which governs how the agency must conduct its rulemakings.

The FTC's initial estimate placed the rule's economic impact below $100 million a year, which let it skip a required "preliminary regulatory analysis." An administrative law judge later found the impact would exceed $100 million annually, yet the FTC finalized the rule without preparing that analysis.

The Eighth Circuit held this was not a harmless error: it deprived affected businesses of a meaningful opportunity to comment on the rule's costs and on possible alternatives. Because the defect went to the rulemaking process itself, the court vacated the rule in its entirety rather than salvaging parts of it.

The agency signaled it would try again. On January 30, 2026, the FTC submitted a draft advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget for review.

On March 11, 2026, the FTC announced the ANPRM, which was published in the Federal Register on March 13, 2026. It concerns the "Rule Concerning the Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans" (16 CFR Part 425) and asks whether the rule should be amended to help consumers avoid unwanted recurring charges and cancel without, in the FTC's words, "unwarranted obstacles."

An ANPRM is an early step: it gathers public input before the FTC drafts any specific rule text. Public comments were due April 13, 2026. A proposed rule, a separate comment period on that proposal, and a final rule would all still have to follow before anything becomes enforceable — a process that typically takes many months or longer.

Even without the 2024 rule, recurring-billing subscriptions are not unregulated. Several laws still govern how companies enroll, bill, and cancel customers on automatically renewing plans.

The original Negative Option Rule (16 CFR Part 425), dating to 1973, remains in effect for prenotification plans. The federal Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) still requires online sellers to disclose terms clearly, obtain informed consent, and provide a simple cancellation mechanism. Section 5 of the FTC Act continues to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices, which the FTC uses to bring enforcement actions against specific companies.

Many states also have their own automatic-renewal laws — California, New York, and others — that impose disclosure, consent, and easy-cancellation duties, in some cases stricter than federal requirements. These state laws were unaffected by the Eighth Circuit's decision and remain fully in force.

The practical takeaway is that you cannot rely on a single, nationwide "click to cancel" button being legally assured everywhere, because the broad 2024 rule never took effect. Cancellation rules now depend on which federal and state laws apply to a given company.

In practice, you may still need to cancel through whatever method a company provides — its website, app, account settings, email, or phone line — and that method varies by provider and by the state you live in. Reading the provider's own cancellation terms is the most reliable way to confirm the exact steps that apply to your account.

If you believe a company is making cancellation unreasonably difficult or is charging you without clear consent, you can file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or with your state attorney general's office. For questions about your specific rights, a licensed attorney or your state consumer-protection agency can advise you directly.