Cancellation at least as easy as sign-up

The FTC's updated Negative Option Rule (2024) — commonly called the Click-to-Cancel rule — explicitly requires that cancellation be 'at least as easy' as the original enrollment. A checkout that takes 2 minutes online but requires a support ticket to cancel is a per-subscriber violation. Cancellation flows with three or more confirmation screens, mandatory 'tell us why' forms, or retention specialist gatekeeping each constitute prohibited friction. Beyond FTC exposure, high-friction cancellation increases chargebacks and negative reviews from frustrated users who feel trapped.

Implement self-service cancellation completable in the account settings UI with a single confirmation step.

function CancelSubscriptionSection() {
  const [confirming, setConfirming] = useState(false)
  const [cancelled, setCancelled] = useState(false)

  async function handleCancel() {
    await fetch('/api/subscription/cancel', { method: 'POST' })
    setCancelled(true)
  }

  if (cancelled) {
    return (
      <p>Subscription cancelled. Access continues until the end of
        your current billing period.
      </p>
    )
  }

  return (
    <div>
      {!confirming ? (
        <button onClick={() => setConfirming(true)}>
          Cancel subscription
        </button>
      ) : (
        <div>
          <p>You'll retain access until your billing period ends.
             Resubscribe anytime.
          </p>
          {/* One counter-offer step is acceptable; more screens are not */}
          <button onClick={handleCancel}>Yes, cancel</button>
          <button onClick={() => setConfirming(false)}>Keep subscription</button>
        </div>
      )}
    </div>
  )
}

If a retention offer (discount, pause) is shown as one interstitial screen before the final cancel button, that is compliant. Multiple successive retention screens with no direct 'cancel now' path are not.