FTC delays enforcing 'click to cancel' rule that would finally bring the hammer down on companies that make it as annoying as possible to cancel subscriptions

The seals of the Federal Housing Finance Association (FHFA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at the organizations' headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 20, 2024. Earlier this month, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that they had taken an initial step toward imposing the long-delayed Dodd-Frank Act rule, which would force banks to claw back some pay from executives taking on too much risk. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

If you've ever found yourself stuck on the phone trying to cancel an unwanted subscription or end a "free trial," you're in luck because the FTC has a new rule to fix that. The only problem? They're delaying actually enforcing it.

The "Rule Concerning Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Plans", or more simply the "Negative Option Rule", is a regulation passed under the Biden administration late last year that's designed to crack down on companies using predatory tactics to try to prevent people from canceling their subscriptions. That includes any practice that makes it significantly harder to cancel a subscription than it was to sign up.