This is an opinion piece. It sets out the view of NerdBible's editors; the facts it relies on are sourced below.
Our position is simple: the Federal Trade Commission should finish rebuilding its click-to-cancel rule, and subscription sellers should not wait for it. Whether you can quit a paid app as easily as you joined it should not depend on your postcode. That applies to the whole subscription aisle, a parental control app as much as a streaming bundle or a meal kit.
What happened this month
On 1 October, New York City's click-to-cancel rule took effect. CNBC reports that the city now has authority to enforce similar protections locally and is providing a website where consumers can file complaints. New York state already has its own rule. CNBC also notes that more than half of US states have laws on the books governing subscriptions that renew automatically.
That is real progress for people who live in those places. But it sits next to a gap at the national level. The same report says the FTC is considering reviving its click-to-cancel rule, which a federal court vacated before it could take effect last July.
How the federal rule got here
According to a Jones Day analysis, the 2024 rule had three core demands. Sellers had to disclose the material terms of a recurring offer clearly before charging, obtain express informed consent to the recurring charge, and make cancelling no harder than signing up. The Eighth Circuit vacated the rule in full because the FTC had not completed the preliminary regulatory analysis required for rules with a large economic effect. In other words, the court's objection was about process, not about whether the three demands were reasonable.
The FTC then restarted. A timeline compiled by Churnfree, a subscription-retention vendor, records that the vacated text was removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in February, restoring the 1973 rule that covers only prenotification plans. An advance notice of proposed rulemaking followed in March, and the comment period closed in April. As of September, the same source says, no proposed rule had been published. Jones Day adds that the March notice asked whether to revive provisions from the vacated rule, whether to take alternative approaches, and whether to treat some industries differently.
Why a patchwork is not enough
First, the protections vary. Jones Day notes that some state laws already mirror or exceed parts of the vacated rule, and gives California as an example: its law requires an annual reminder of the upcoming renewal, the price and how to cancel. That is a good standard. But a buyer in a state without one gets less, and a subscription app sold nationwide has to be built to the strictest rule or to none at all. Louisiana's law, according to Churnfree, arrives in January, which shows how the map keeps changing.
Second, the federal backstop is thin. Jones Day explains that the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) applies only to transactions made on the internet, and that it does not define what counts as a material term or a simple cancellation mechanism. A seller and a regulator can reasonably disagree about what a simple mechanism is, and the dispute is settled after the damage, not before.
Third, a rule changes the remedy. Jones Day says a reenacted rule would give the FTC a clearer route to restitution for consumers under Section 19 of the FTC Act, without having to prove the conduct was dishonest or fraudulent. Without a rule, redress depends on the facts of each case.
The strongest counter-argument
The fair objection is that the system is not broken enough to justify another rulemaking. Enforcement continues without the rule. Jones Day points to a record $2.5 billion settlement the FTC obtained from Amazon, resolving allegations that it enrolled consumers in Prime without informed consent and complicated cancellation, as evidence that the agency can act under existing law. States are moving as well, and the CNBC report shows that local governments are joining in. On this view, the rule is a nice-to-have, and a rushed attempt could be struck down again, leaving everyone with another year of uncertainty. Business and trade groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, challenged the 2024 rule in court, according to CNBC, so any new version should expect the same scrutiny.
We take that seriously, and we agree on one point: the new rule must be built carefully, with the economic analysis the court said was missing. But the argument proves less than it seems. Large settlements are an argument for clear rules, not against them, because they show how much money moves before a case ends. Enforcement also reaches only the sellers the agency can investigate. A published standard reaches everyone, including the small seller who wants to comply but cannot tell what counts as simple. And the court's objection was procedural, which is something a careful process can fix.
What sellers and buyers can do now
Nothing stops a seller from following the three principles today. Show the price and renewal terms before taking payment details. Ask for a clear yes to the recurring charge. Let customers cancel in the same place and in about the same number of steps as they signed up. Sellers that do this will be ready for whichever rule arrives.
For buyers, the practical step is to treat the renewal terms as part of the price. Before you subscribe, check whether the offer says how to cancel, and note the renewal date. If a rule or law in your area gives you a complaint route, such as the New York City site CNBC describes, it is worth knowing it exists. This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, speak to a qualified professional or your local consumer protection office.
Our view
A national standard would give buyers one answer to a basic question: can I leave as easily as I joined? Cities and states are filling the silence, and that is welcome. But filling a silence is not the same as ending it. The FTC has collected its comments. It should now publish a proposal, do the analysis properly, and finish the job.
