How to cancel your subscriptions
Canceling streaming subscriptions can be a pain, here’s how to find the right place to look to cut the cord.
Problem Solved
A federal appeals court blocked a new rule that would have forced businesses to make it easier to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit struck down the Federal Trade Commission rule just days before it was set to take effect, saying “fatal” procedural errors were made in the rulemaking process.
The FTC could not be reached for comment.
Announced in October, the “click to cancel” rule would have required businesses to make it as “at least as easy” to cancel a service as it was to sign up. Also, businesses would have had to get consent for subscriptions, auto-renewals and free trials that convert to paid memberships.
The rule, which was part of a Biden administration “Time is Money” initiative to crack down on “junk fees” and other consumer headaches, passed 3-2, with the FTC’s two Republican commissioners voting against it.
“We know signing up for subscriptions is so easy, it is miraculous. That is why we know that the difficulty of cancellation is not an accident. It is a choice. And it’s a choice that’s causing real harm to consumers,” Samuel Levine, former director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, told USA TODAY last year.
Consumer groups applauded the new rule as a much needed protection for consumers who get stuck paying for services they no longer want. In 2024, the FTC said it received an average of 70 complaints a day.
But click to cancel” soon faced mounting political and legal challenges.
Andrew Ferguson, a Republican and the new FCC chairman, voted against “click to cancel” as an FTC commissioner.
The rule was also opposed by business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sued, arguing the FTC had exceeded its statutory authority and that the rule would unfairly saddle businesses with high costs and unnecessary regulatory hurdles.
“The court ruled that federal agencies must follow the rulemaking process, including conducting a thorough analysis of how much proposed regulations will cost consumers and businesses,” the Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. “The decision provides a safeguard against rushed rulemaking and reinforces the importance of agencies addressing public concerns.”
(This story was updated to add new information.)
