Sept 15 (Reuters) - Chegg Inc. ( CHGG ) has agreed to pay $7.5

million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission claims that the

educational technology company made it difficult to cancel

subscriptions, according to court papers filed in San Jose,

California, on Monday.

Chegg ( CHGG ) buried cancellation options behind multiple menus on its

website, according to the FTC complaint, which joins a number of

recent FTC actions against companies over onerous cancellation

methods.

Chegg ( CHGG ) knew the process was difficult and confusing, the FTC

said,

citing internal emails

including a 2021 email from Nathan Schultz, who is now

Chegg's ( CHGG ) chief executive, saying there "should be some pain

involved" in cancellation.

A Chegg ( CHGG ) spokesperson said the company disagrees with the

FTC's claims but settled to avoid prolonged litigation.

A court this year blocked a Biden-era FTC rule that would

require companies to make it as easy to cancel services as it is

to sign up. The Trump FTC has used existing authority to sue

individual companies it says use overly burdensome cancellation

methods.

The FTC sued Uber Technologies in April alleging it

deceptively marketed

its Uber One subscription, and

sued the operators

of gym chain LA Fitness in August for burdensome membership

cancellation requirements.

The agency is also

gearing up for trial

next week in a case accusing Amazon.com of

enrolling users in Prime without their knowledge and making it

difficult to cancel the service. The companies are contesting

the allegations.