Ofcom has identified that the UK terms of social video sites and apps such as Onlyfans, Twitch and Snapchat are lengthy, impenetrable and inconsistent. It said OnlyFans has the longest terms of service at nearly 16,000 words, which would take its adult users more than an hour to read. Conversely, TikTok’s terms would take 8 minutes to read but would still be challenging for its youngest users to understand. As Ofcom put it: “Many adults would struggle to understand video-sharing platforms’ rules – kids have even less chance“.

The incomprehensibility of terms often raises its head. In fact, in my experience, most users don’t read the terms anyway, particular if it’s small print. I wrote about this several years previously. For example, Gamestation (now part of Game) users granted “a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul.” Also, Amazon’s now-defunct service Lumberyard had a carve-out in case there was a zombie apocalypse: 

“[T]his restriction will not apply in the event of … a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.”

Jokes aside, it’s important that users read the terms of service, particularly in the consumer environment. Maybe making them easier to understand will mean they’ll read the terms? I doubt it. At least not until something goes wrong.

If you need advice, contact me at +44 20 3824 9748 or fjennings@hcrlaw.com.