FTC tightens consumer rules

The Federal Trade Commission is reopening its fight over subscriptions and hidden delivery charges, with new rulemaking on both “click to cancel” and online grocery fees. (ftc.gov 1) (ftc.gov 2) On March 11, 2026, the agency opened an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on negative-option marketing, the subscription model where silence or inaction can trigger recurring charges. The FTC said it has received more than 100,000 complaints about negative-option and related practices over the past five years. (ftc.gov) The push follows the FTC’s October 16, 2024 final “click-to-cancel” rule, which said companies must make cancellation as easy as sign-up and required clear disclosures and express informed consent before charging people. EPIC said the 2024 rule was later vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit over a procedural defect, and on April 22, 2026 it said it had joined 15 other civil society groups urging the FTC to move quickly on a replacement. (ftc.gov) (epic.org) A second FTC proceeding targets the price people see before they order dinner or groceries online. On April 14, 2026, the agency said it was seeking public comment on whether a national rule is needed for unfair or deceptive fee practices in online food and grocery delivery. (ftc.gov) The FTC tied that move to recent cases against major platforms. It cited a December 2025 $60 million settlement with Instacart over alleged “free delivery” claims that still left consumers paying service fees at checkout, and a December 2024 $25 million settlement with GrubHub over alleged delivery-cost misrepresentations. (ftc.gov) The delivery-fee docket is narrower than the FTC’s broader junk-fees rule, which the agency says bars businesses from hiding mandatory charges or misrepresenting what a fee is for. The food-and-grocery case focuses on platforms that add charges late in the ordering process and asks whether a sector-specific rule would work better. (ftc.gov 1) (ftc.gov 2) The agency is also signaling that these fights will not sit in isolation. In its Fiscal Years 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, published April 3, 2026, the FTC said its next five years will center on consumer protection, competition, and operational enforcement priorities across digital markets. (ftc.gov 1) (ftc.gov 2) That means subscription design, checkout pricing, and data collection are increasingly being treated as part of the same consumer-protection agenda: how companies obtain consent, how they present costs, and how they use customer information inside digital services. The next immediate deadlines are procedural, with comments already open on both rulemakings as the FTC decides whether to draft tougher national rules. (ftc.gov) (ftc.gov)