Federal ‘click to cancel subscriptions’ rule delayed, may be weakened [U]

A “click to cancel” law was last month passed in California, and now the FTC has ratified a federal rule designed to achieve the same goal. The idea of both is to force companies to make it as easy to cancel an online or app subscription as it is to sign up in the first place. Update: The FTC has announced that enforcement has been pushed back from May 14 to July 14 to give companies more time to respond – and that it may even be weakened – see end of the piece … Both laws were introduced in response to sketchy practices by companies designed to make it as difficult as possible to unsubscribe. The proposed rule would require businesses to make it at least as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to start it. For example, if you can sign up online, you must be able to cancel on the same website, in the same number of steps. The FTC launched an investigation into Adobe after customers accused the company of shady practices in this area. Federal ‘click to cancel subscriptions’ rule ... Read full article.