United States of America: Introduced Maryland Consumer OPT-IN Act

On 1 December 2021, the "Consumer OPT-IN Act" was introduced to the Maryland Senate. This legislation would protect consumers from scams online and make free trials with unclear conditions and hard-to-cancel subscriptions unfair practices. Particularly, the bill requires companies to notify and get consumer consent before converting free trials into contracts and automatically renewing long-term contracts. Moreover, the Bill would give the FTC rulemaking powers over negative option contracts, automatic renewals, and dark patterns.