Click-to-cancel: Public comments on FTC proposal highlight subscription frustrations

The public comment period for the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed “click-to-cancel” rule is now closed, and responses to the proposal tell a clear story: Consumers are frustrated by the subscription practices employed by many companies, and would support any changes that give them greater control over how and when they’re charged. The FTC proposed a formal rule in March that would require publishers (and other companies selling subscriptions) to offer straightforward self-service cancellation mechanisms, and asked consumers to submit written comments on the idea. The proposal has received over 1,000 comments totaling over 100,000 words, so Toolkits trained an AI chatbot on the responses to help identify the most prevalent themes and sentiments. While consumer frustration