The company should clearly disclose that it directly notifies users when it changes its terms of service, prior to these changes coming into effect.
Elements:
- Does the company clearly disclose that it directly notifies users about all changes to its terms of service?
- Does the company clearly disclose how it will directly notify users of changes?
- Does the company clearly disclose the timeframe within which it directly notifies users of changes prior to these changes coming into effect?
- Does the company maintain a public archive or change log?
Definitions:
Change log — A record that depicts the specific changes in a document, in this case, a terms of service or privacy policy document.
Clearly disclose(s) — The company presents or explains its policies or practices in its public-facing materials in a way that is easy for users to find and understand.
Directly notify/direct notification — By direct notification, we mean that when a company changes or updates its policy that applies to a particular service, we expect the company to notify users of these changes via the service. The method of direct notification may differ according to the type of service. For services that contain user accounts, direct notification may involve sending an email or an SMS. For services that do not require a user account, direct notification may involve posting a prominent notice on the main page where users access the service.
Public archive — A publicly available resource that contains previous versions of a company’s policies, such as its terms of service or privacy policy, or comprehensively explains each round of changes the company makes to these policies.
Terms of service — This document may also be called Terms of Use, Terms and Conditions, etc. The terms of service “often provide the necessary ground rules for how various online services should be used,” as stated by the EFF, and represent a legal agreement between the company and the user. Companies can take action against users and their content based on information in the terms of service. Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation, “Terms of (Ab)use” https://www.eff.org/issues/terms-of-abuse
Users — Individuals who use a product or service. This includes people who post or transmit the content online as well as those who try to access or receive the content. For indicators in the freedom of expression category, this includes third-party developers who create apps that are housed or distributed through a company’s product or service.
Indicator guidance: It is common for companies to change their terms of service as their business evolves. However these changes, which can include rules about prohibited content and activities, can have a significant impact on users’ freedom of expression and information rights. We therefore expect companies to commit to notify users when they change these terms and to provide users with information that helps them understand what these changes mean.
This indicator evaluates whether companies clearly disclose the method and timeframe for notifying users about changes to their terms of service. We expect companies to commit to directly notify users of these changes prior to changes coming into effect. The method of direct notification may differ according to the type of service; we expect companies to directly notify users in a way that they will be sure to access. For services that contain user accounts, direct notification may involve sending an email or an SMS. For services that do not require a user account, direct notification may involve posting a prominent notice where users access the service. This indicator also seeks evidence that a company provides publicly available records of previous terms so that people can understand how the company’s terms have evolved over time.
For companies that have two or more applicable policy documents, (for example, one general terms of service and one service-specific terms), each document has to meet the element criteria in order to obtain full credit.
Potential sources:
- Company terms of service
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