Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Revive FTC’s Click-to-Cancel Rule
Lawmakers want to make it easy to drop cable and Internet plans.
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2025 – The fight to cancel an Internet subscription with a single click of a computer mouse rages on.
U.S. senators have introduced a bipartisan bill targeting deceptive subscription practices, following a court ruling that blocked similar regulation efforts by the Federal Trade Commission in the Biden administration.
Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and John Kennedy, R-La., proposed the Unsubscribe Act on July 10, just two days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the FTC’s “click-to-cancel” rules. The rules were supposed to go into effect July 14, 2025.
The bill would make canceling subscriptions easier for consumers. It would require companies to disclose contract terms, obtain informed consent, offer easy cancellation methods, notify customers before charging after trials, prohibit automatic renewals beyond trial periods, and provide regular reminders about contract terms.
“Our bill will require companies to be more transparent about their business model and make it easier for consumers to avoid costly, automatic monthly charges they never intended to make,” said Schatz in the statement. “The subscription-based business model is exploding, and it’s largely because of the deceptive practices that some companies use to lure and trap in customers. When people sign up for a free trial, they shouldn’t have to jump through hoops just to cancel their subscription before being charged.”
Kennedy voiced the same concerns.
“The average American is all too familiar with the headache of running around in circles to cancel a subscription before their free trial expires,” he said. “Our common-sense Unsubscribe Act would make sure companies are upfront about automatic charges and make it easier to cancel subscriptions without the convoluted song-and-dance routine.”
The Unsubscribe Act closely resembles the FTC’s “click-to-cancel” rules backed by then-Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khan in October 2024. The Khan rules aimed to protect consumers from subscription traps. The court ruled that the FTC failed to complete a required preliminary regulatory analysis.
Because the Unsubscribe Act is a congressional bill with bipartisan backing, it may have a stronger path to becoming a law.
The bill has drawn support from consumer advocacy groups, including Consumer Action, Truth in Advertising, the National Consumer League, Public Citizen, and the Consumer Federation of America.
“Consumers deserve safeguards to prevent them from being trapped into paying for a service they no longer want with no straightforward way to cancel a subscription,” said Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., plans to introduce similar legislation in the House.
Member discussion