FTC Sues Hims & Hers Over Subscription Consent and Cancellation

california cancellation ftc hims & hers privacy rosca utah Jul 30, 2026

The complaint focuses on whether customers understood that submitting a medical intake form could trigger a charge and recurring prescription plan. It also challenges refill timing, cancellation and the handling of sensitive health information.

The Federal Trade Commission, joined by California through Los Angeles County Counsel and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, sued Hims & Hers Health on July 29 over its subscription billing, cancellation and privacy practices.

The complaint alleges that customers could submit a medical intake form expecting a provider review, then be charged and enrolled in a recurring prescription plan after a provider approved a treatment, without another opportunity to review or approve the recommendation.

The FTC also challenges how Hims & Hers disclosed refill dates and describes cancellation obstacles used from at least 2019 through early 2025. A separate claim alleges that the company shared sensitive health information with advertising platforms through at least May 2024.

Hims & Hers strongly denies the allegations. The company said the lawsuit disregards evidence it provided during a nearly three-year investigation, ignores telehealth laws and industry standards, and “contorts the law” to manufacture claims.

Hims & Hers said customers receive the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and use of its services. It also said its privacy policy explains customers’ data choices and that information patients share with healthcare providers is used only to provide care.

The company said it will vigorously defend itself. The case is pending, and the court has not ruled on the allegations.

When the medical intake becomes a subscription enrollment

Hims & Hers operates a telehealth platform that connects customers with medical providers and sells prescription treatments filled by pharmacies it owns or works with.

Customers complete an online intake form that a medical provider reviews before prescribing treatment. The FTC’s complaint focuses on what customers were told during that process and whether they understood what would happen after submitting the form.

According to the complaint, intake screens showed the plan price, delivery frequency and recurring nature of the subscription. The FTC alleges that other language framed the customer’s action as submitting medical information for review rather than authorizing a future charge and recurring enrollment.

Examples cited in the complaint include “Due Now $0,” “Pay $0 today” and “You will only be charged if prescribed.” The FTC says the subscription disclosure appeared in small, low-contrast text below the final action button and did not clearly explain when the charge and enrollment would occur.

In most states, according to the complaint, a provider could review the intake form and prescribe a treatment without another interaction with the customer. Hims & Hers could then charge the customer, send the prescription for fulfillment and enroll the customer in a recurring plan.

The FTC alleges that most affected customers did not have a meaningful opportunity to confirm the specific treatment before they were charged.

The complaint says Hims & Hers revised the screen customers saw after submitting an intake form in late 2025. The revised screen said an approved prescription would be charged to the customer’s card and shipped. The FTC alleges that the new language still did not make clear when the approval and charge would occur.

The FTC also challenges refill timing

The complaint separately alleges that Hims & Hers did not clearly explain when customers would be charged for their first refill.

Customers could choose delivery schedules of one, three, six or 12 months. According to the FTC, Hims & Hers routinely processed the first refill 10 days before the selected schedule.

For a monthly subscription, the complaint says, the first refill could be charged on day 20. Because customers had to cancel at least two days before processing, they would need to cancel by day 18 to avoid the charge.

The FTC says this policy appeared in small text below the final action button and was not clearly presented elsewhere during enrollment. The complaint also alleges that some later refills could be processed up to two days early because of holidays or other operational reasons.

Customers who did not understand that schedule could miss the deadline to stop a refill and receive medication they no longer wanted, according to the complaint.

Cancellation practices are also part of the case

The cancellation claims cover practices from at least 2019 through early 2025. They do not describe every customer’s current experience.

Before April 2023, most customers allegedly had to contact customer service by phone, email or online chat to cancel. The FTC says those channels created additional hurdles that made it difficult for some customers to complete cancellation.

Hims & Hers introduced online cancellation for most website customers in April 2023. The complaint alleges that customers first had to select “Add/remove items from order.” The word “cancel” did not appear on the subscription page.

Customers then had to remove the items in their subscription before the cancellation option appeared. After selecting “cancel subscription,” they could face approximately three to 10 questions, each on a separate screen, before the request was accepted.

The complaint notes that Hims & Hers introduced single-click cancellation in California and Colorado in June 2022. Customers in other states were given a different process. Mobile app users also could not initially cancel through the apps, according to the complaint.

Health-data allegations raise a separate trust issue

The FTC also alleges that Hims & Hers shared information about customers’ medical conditions with Meta, Snap and other advertising platforms through at least May 2024.

According to the complaint, the company shared customer lists and used tracking technologies to transmit information about actions taken on its websites.

The FTC argues that these practices conflicted with statements describing the service as private and secure and suggesting that sensitive health information would only be accessed by medical providers.

Hims & Hers disputes the privacy allegations. The company said its privacy policy makes clear that customers can choose how their data is used. It also said information patients share with healthcare providers is used only to provide care.

FTC relies on existing subscription law

The FTC is bringing claims under the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, commonly known as ROSCA. California and Utah are also bringing claims under their consumer-protection laws.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction, monetary relief, civil penalties and other remedies. The complaint does not specify a total amount sought.

The case comes after a federal appeals court vacated the FTC’s amended Negative Option Rule, widely known for its click-to-cancel requirement. Here, the agency is relying on ROSCA and the FTC Act to challenge the billing, enrollment and cancellation practices described in the complaint.

Hims & Hers reported 2.584 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2026, up 9% from the prior year. The company defines subscribers as customers with at least one plan that automatically bills on a recurring schedule.

Insider Take

The Hims & Hers complaint fits a pattern in recent subscription enforcement. The existence of a disclosure, privacy policy or cancellation option may not end the inquiry. Regulators are examining how each part of the customer experience works in practice.

Here, the FTC points to the words customers saw before submitting the medical intake, where disclosures appeared, what happened after the form was submitted, how refill dates were calculated and how customers reached cancellation.

Hims & Hers disputes the allegations, and the court will decide the case.

For subscription operators, the signal is in that level of scrutiny. The wording, placement, timing and sequence of each step can become central to an enforcement action.

The details matter. Increasingly, those details are the case.

For Subscription Insider Members

Related Member Center Resources

Subscription Insider members can use these briefs to review the broader federal, California and Utah subscription requirements connected to enrollment, billing and cancellation.