23 August, 2025 FTC Swipes Left on Match Group’s Deceptive Advertising and Cancellation Practices, Securing $14 Million Payment By Kate Patton Earlier this month, Match Group, Inc. and Match Group, LLC, owners and operators of popular online dating services such as Match.com,...
22 August, 2025 Bad Subscription Practices Still An Enforcement Priority By Terri Seligman Did you think that the death of the FTC’s updated Negative Option Rule meant the end of FTC enforcement on subscription programs? Think...
07 August, 2025 California AG and DAs Settle With Direct Mail Company Over Deceptive Mailers By Jeff Greenbaum Earlier this summer, the California Attorney General, along with the District Attorneys from six California counties, entered into a...
09 July, 2025 8th Circuit Vacates FTC’s Negative Option Rule—But Compliance Traps Remain By Jason Howell Kate Patton As previously reported, the Federal Trade Commission’s updated rule addressing recurring subscription programs (a/k/a the Negative Option...
13 June, 2025 New York’s SFY 2025-26 Budget: A New Era of Consumer Protections By Hannah Taylor Kate Patton In May 2025, New York State passed its Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget, ushering in a sweeping set of consumer protection reforms. Tucked into...
10 April, 2025 Recent FTC Settlement Underscores Importance of Compliant Subscription Practices By Kate Patton As the new Federal Trade Commission leadership continues to shape its consumer protection agenda, we look to recent enforcement and...
19 February, 2025 Can You Add Advertising to an Ad-Free Service? By Jeff Greenbaum When consumers subscribe to Amazon Prime, they get free shipping, access to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, and other benefits. Up...
16 October, 2024 ‘Click to Cancel’ is Here, as FTC Announces Final Negative Option Rule By Kate Patton Terri Seligman The Federal Trade Commission today (finally) announced its final “click-to-cancel” rule, which imposes new requirements on negative...
26 September, 2024 California Amends Its Auto-Renewal Law, Effective July 1, 2025 By Kate Patton State auto-renewal law updates continue to keep us busy—and this week is no exception. On Tuesday, California, whose statute has...
05 May, 2024 State Auto-Renewal Law Update: Utah Enacts, Virginia Amends, and California Proposes Major Amendments By Kate Patton The negative option space has been quite active at the state level recently, with new laws enacted and existing laws updated — and the...
01 May, 2024 FTC Pursues Bill Payment Company Over Alleged Dark Patterns, Illegal Junk Fees and ROSCA Violations By Kate Patton The Federal Trade Commission took action under the FTC Act, the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act...
19 January, 2024 FTC Hearing Participants Voice Concerns with Proposed Negative Option Rule By Kate Patton During a virtual informal hearing on January 16, several organizations presented their concerns—both procedural and substantive—with the...
29 December, 2023 New York Amends Automatic Renewal Law... Again By Terri Seligman Joining California and a few other states, New York has amended its automatic renewal law again to require annual renewal notices. The...
05 December, 2023 FTC to Host Informal Hearing on Proposed Amendments to Negative Option Rule By Kate Patton The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will hold a virtual informal hearing on January 16, 2024, on its proposed amendments to...
03 March, 2023 Another Dark Patterns Case at NAD By Terri Seligman NAD doesn’t often address pricing issues so when it does, I pay close attention. A recent case is especially interesting because it’s...
26 January, 2023 When does the FTC step in over a free trial that automatically converts to a ongoing subscription? By Terri Seligman When it gets 70,000+ complaints. Back in 2016, the FTC settled with beauty product and nutritional supplement marketer, NutriClick....