FTC Proposes New Rule to Curb Dark-Pattern Subscription Designs in Smart Home Devices

29 October 2026

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a proposed rule aimed at curbing deceptive "dark pattern" subscription designs in smart home and connected devices, marking an escalation of the agency's ongoing efforts to protect consumers from manipulative online practices.

The move comes as the FTC seeks comment on a sweeping proposed update to its "Negative Option Rule," which governs recurring charges without express consumer consent. The smart device proposals are part of a broader package of amendments to the rule, opened for public comment through April 13.

Dark patterns describe deceptive design practices that trick or manipulate users into making unintended choices, according to the FTC. In the context of smart devices, these can include burying key subscription terms, using confusing buttons to cause accidental sign-ups, or making cancellations needlessly difficult.

The proposed rule, if finalized, would put key subscription disclosures front and center. It would require express consent for negative option features, separate from the main voice-activated product controls. An ambiguous reading of a voice command could no longer suffice to enroll consumers in recurring charges.

The rule would also introduce oversight for smart product functionality. Device manufacturers would, for the first time, face checks on how easily consumers can cancel subscriptions. The FTC has in the past alleged that companies like Amazon went too far in the other direction, by obscuring options to decline Prime enrollments.

The FTC first introduced the Negative Option Rule in 1973 to address unfair or deceptive practices around products consumers enroll in but are billed continually unless they cancel. Negative options are a fixture of today's online landscape, with preventive notice sending 72,000 subscription-related complaints in 2023, reports the Federal Consumer Assistance Center.

Beyond tied-to-negative-option purchases, the FTC cites growing complaints about data collection in IoT devices. Samsung, for instance, has faced allegations that its smart TVs obscure trackers behind confusing privacy menus. As devices are used to project timeshare solicitation pitches, consumers could find themselves ambushed by negative-option offers shouted from the other side of the room.

The National Association of Realtors estimates some $250 million in timeshare scam losses between 2010 and 2017, many involving dark patterns. If smart devices become entries to automated sales pitches, realtors could see a rise in complaints that are difficult to address, the NAOR puts it in a released statement.

The FTC-Timeshare Liaison Committee monitors timeshare sales practices, including digital ones. Consumer advocates have cautioned that lawmakers may need to go further, to create a polling commission to give consumers a head start in recognizing deceptive pitch tactics.

"A captive audience is no audience at all," the Electronic Frontier Foundation's smart home researcher Irene Tan said in a released statement. Dark patterns that make it hard to cancel are square one, but device data privacy also merits stronger rules, Tan said.

The proposed rule opens a 60-day comment window on its design. The NFRA has already voiced concerns to the FTC that the impact analysis overestimates the cost reduction from device owners by moving in-person sign-up to voice control. There is a risk that voice signaling generates more impulse purchases over phone sign-up.

The FTC has not announced a tentative effective date for the rule in text or briefing materials related to the proposed changes to the Negative Option Rule provided to press in advance of their release.