Is the FTC click-to-cancel rule still in effect?

No. The FTC's 2024 "click-to-cancel" amendments to its Negative Option Rule were vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in July 2025, and the FTC formally restored the older 1973 version of the rule on 12 February 2026. What still applies to online subscriptions nationwide is the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA), which already requires clear terms, express consent and a simple way to stop recurring charges.

Below is the timeline, what ROSCA asks of a subscription business today, where the FTC's new rulemaking stands, and a short checklist you can work through for a Stripe subscription.

The timeline in one table

Date	What happened	Source
29 Dec 2010	ROSCA becomes law (Pub. L. 111-345)	15 U.S.C. § 8403
15 Nov 2024	FTC publishes its amended Negative Option Rule, the "click-to-cancel" rule	Federal Register, 12 Feb 2026
July 2025	The Eighth Circuit vacates the 2024 rule (Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC)	Federal Register, 12 Feb 2026 and 13 Mar 2026
12 Feb 2026	FTC restores the rule text as it was before the 2024 amendments; effective that day	Federal Register, 12 Feb 2026
13 Mar 2026	FTC publishes an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) asking whether to amend the rule	Federal Register, 13 Mar 2026
13 Apr 2026	ANPRM comment period closes	Federal Register, 13 Mar 2026
14 Oct 2026	FTC proposes extending the paperwork clearance for the rule as it was written before the vacatur; comments due 14 Dec 2026	Federal Register, 14 Oct 2026

As of today (23 October 2026), there is no proposed rule text, only the advance notice. An ANPRM is an early step: it asks questions, it doesn't create new obligations.

Why the 2024 rule was vacated

The 2024 rule would have required businesses to disclose key terms before taking billing details, get unambiguous consent to the recurring charge, and offer a simple cancellation mechanism that immediately stops charges. Businesses and industry groups challenged it, and the cases were consolidated in the Eighth Circuit.

According to the FTC's own February 2026 notice, the court found that the Commission's failure to issue a preliminary regulatory analysis was "procedurally insufficient" and vacated the rule. In other words, it was set aside on procedural grounds, over how the rule was made. The FTC then restored the rule to the form it had before the 2024 amendments. That older rule, from 1973, covers "prenotification" plans (plans where the seller sends announced selections unless the subscriber declines them), a narrower kind of plan than most of today's subscriptions.

What still applies: ROSCA

ROSCA is a federal statute, not an FTC rule, so the court decision didn't touch it. It covers goods or services sold online "through a negative option feature", which it defines by pointing to the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule: a provision under which the customer's "silence or failure to take an affirmative action to reject goods or services or to cancel the agreement" is treated as acceptance. A subscription that keeps charging until the customer cancels fits that description. For those, 15 U.S.C. § 8403 makes it unlawful to charge the customer unless you:

1. Disclose the material terms first. Provide text that "clearly and conspicuously discloses all material terms of the transaction before obtaining the consumer's billing information."
2. Get express informed consent. Obtain the customer's "express informed consent" before charging their card or account.
3. Offer a simple way to stop. Provide "simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges."

The FTC enforces ROSCA, and violations are treated as violations of an FTC rule, which can bring civil penalties. In its March 2026 notice, the FTC said it had started five cases alleging negative option misconduct since January 2025. So the practical picture for a subscription business hasn't changed much: the click-to-cancel rule is gone, but the basic expectations it spelled out are still in the statute.

What the FTC is asking now

The March 2026 ANPRM asks the public about:

• how businesses market products with negative options and how those programs run;
• practices that stop customers understanding the terms, enroll them without express informed consent, or deter them from cancelling;
• options ranging from keeping the current rule, to adopting provisions of the vacated 2024 rule, to non-regulatory alternatives such as business education;
• supporting studies and data.

The FTC's press release notes it has received more than 100,000 complaints about negative options and related practices in the past five years. If a new rule comes, it would have to go through a proposed rule and another comment period first, so there will be notice before anything takes effect.

State and city rules still apply

Federal law is a floor. Several states and cities have their own automatic renewal laws, and they didn't change when the federal rule was vacated. California's rules on renewal reminders are covered in our guide on California auto-renewal reminders. New York City's own "Click to Cancel" rule took effect on 1 October 2026; NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection says companies must clearly explain subscription terms and provide a straightforward cancellation process "in the same method as sign up." See /rules for the plain-English summaries we keep for each place.

A simple checklist for a Stripe subscription

You can meet ROSCA's three points without a big project:

1. Put the terms next to the button. On your pricing or checkout page, state the price, how often it charges, that it renews until cancelled, and how to cancel, before the card form.
2. Ask for a clear yes. Use an unticked checkbox or a button whose label says the customer is starting a recurring plan, and keep a record of what they agreed to and when.
3. Make leaving easy to find. Link to a cancel or manage-billing page from the account area and from your emails. Stripe's customer portal or your own cancel page both work, as long as the path is short and stops the charges.
4. Send a reminder before a trial converts or a yearly plan renews. It isn't a federal requirement, but it heads off surprise charges and some state laws do require it.
5. Keep proof. Save the terms shown, the consent and the cancellation confirmation. It answers customer questions quickly and shows your process if anyone asks.

How common is an easy exit already?

In PlainRenew's own cancel-flow dataset (public pages and official help articles only; checked 21–22 October 2026), 39 of the 40 services whose cancellation method we could confirm from their official help pages documented online self-serve cancellation. Separately, on the public pricing and terms pages our checker read for 169 subscription sites, 97 (57%) had no cancel or manage-billing link we could find. That's a text match on public pages, so many of those links likely sit behind a login. Still, it suggests the step most teams can improve is making the exit visible up front, not rebuilding it.

Quick FAQ

Is "click to cancel" now illegal to ignore at the federal level? The specific 2024 rule isn't in force. ROSCA's requirement of a "simple mechanism" to stop recurring charges is, and the FTC enforces it.

Do I need to change anything because the rule was vacated? Probably not. If you built a simple online cancel path for the 2024 rule, keep it: it still fits ROSCA and the state and city rules that require online cancellation.

Will the FTC bring the rule back? It's asking whether to. As of 23 October 2026 there's an advance notice and a closed comment period, but no proposed rule.

If you'd like to see how your public pages read against these points, the free checker at the top of this page takes about a minute.