• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 8, 2025

The Interactive Advertising Bureau and other business groups are pressing an appellate court to strike down the Federal Trade Commission's click-to-cancel rules, which aim to let consumers easily terminate subscriptions to newspapers, gyms, and other businesses.

The regulations, which were passed last October in a 3-2 vote, require companies to offer a “simple” cancellation mechanism, and allow consumers to cancel subscriptions through the same medium that was used to purchase them. The rules also provide that cancellation mechanisms must be “at least as easy to use” as enrollment mechanisms.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, cable lobby and others challenged the regulations in court, arguing that the FTC lacked authority to issue a single set of regulations that will affect a wide swath of industries. The groups specifically contended in an appeal filed with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that the FTC may only issue rules that “target well-defined unlawful practices in particular industries.”

Late last week, the organizations reiterated that position in a final filing with the 8th Circuit. They argue that the FTC's rules aren't valid for several reasons, including that some requirements are vague -- such as the mandate to offer “easy to use” cancellation methods.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau and others also say the rules sweep too broadly to be valid. The challengers point to Section 18 of the FTC Act, which only authorizes the agency to pass rules that “define with specificity acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive.”

The challengers argue that this language precludes the FTC from issuing rules that affect “a billion-plus contracts used for everything from magazines to pet food.”

The FTC is defending the rules in court, even though Andrew Ferguson, the current chair, voted against them.

The agency argued in a March filing that nothing prevents it from passing rules that affect more than one industry.

“While some Commission rules are industry-specific, the Commission has consistently promulgated industry-agnostic or multi-industry rules,” the FTC wrote, pointing to examples such as the “mail order rule,” which requires retailers notify consumers of shipping delays, and allow cancellations due to shipping postponements.

The 8th Circuit hasn't yet said when it will hear arguments in the matter.