In March 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed tightened requirements of the Negative Option Rule. This is an effort to combat unfair or deceptive practices, such as charging customers for recurring products or services that they don’t want and can’t cancel easily. Negative options refer to features like automatic renewals, prenotification plans, free-to-pay and fee-to-pay conversions, and continuity programs.
The FTC seeks to increase the requirements for negative options to prevent marketers from deceiving or making it difficult for consumers to cancel or opt out of subscriptions, notifications or similar programs. The proposed regulations aim to avoid any hindrance or deception to consumers who want to opt out or cancel.
