Image: Ben Patterson/Foundry
The United States Federal Trade Commission tried to make it easy to cancel subscription services in 2023. The judiciary threw it out earlier this year, just before it was scheduled to go into effect, on the grounds that the FTC had overstepped its authority and skipped procedural steps. Now the legislature, or at least a few members, will try to achieve the same thing.
The newly proposed Congressional bill is being provisionally titled the “Click-to-Cancel Act of 2025.” It’s essentially trying to do the exact same thing that the FTC attempted, explicitly stating that it wants “to codify the rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission relating to click-to-cancel.” The two-page submission merely points to the original FTC filing, which says that customers must be able to cancel a subscription by the same means it was originally agreed upon. So if the bill passes, Americans couldn’t be forced to call or even snail-mail to cancel a subscription that was begun online or in an app. They’d also get an annual reminder before they were charged for re-upping a subscription for another year.
It’s being proposed by a trio of Democratic congresspeople from California, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, as Ars Technica reports. And unfortunately, that means it has little hope of passing under the current administration. At the risk of oversimplifying, the US Congress is currently bitterly divided with a slim margin of control held by business-friendly Republicans, who have gutted federal safeguards over industry at all levels. The conservatives are likely to keep any progressive proposals, no matter how popular, stymied.
With the Trump administration apparently keeping an iron grip over the judiciary as well, it’s possible that even if the law were passed, it would be either sued out of existence or simply not enforced by federal regulators. The odds of any progress being made in the area of exploitative subscription tactics used against consumers seem slim to none, at least in the short term.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he’s the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop “battlestation” in his off hours. Michael’s previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he’s covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he’s always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.