Like Us on Facebook for a Chance to Waive Your Rights

by guest blogger: Adam Greenlee

© 2014 Off Madison Ave. All Rights Reserved.

Like Us on Facebook for aChance to Waive Your Rights

01Like Us on Facebook for a Chance to Waive Your Rights

How Social Media is Changing

the Consumer Rights Landscape

Overview

The next time a fan “Likes” content on your brand’s

social media page, that person may voluntarily be

agreeing to your company’s legal policies. Some

companies, specifically General Mills, are discreetly

tweaking the language of their privacy policies that

may take away users’ rights to sue if they have joined

that brand’s social media communities or entered a

sponsored sweepstakes.

This came after a judge recently refused to dismiss

a lawsuit against the company. So, they imposed

what legal experts now call “forced arbitration” on

their customers, which means the dispute is handled

internally with the company rather than through a

court system.

While the company touts this change as a simple

policy update, it may open a Pandora’s Box in

customer/company relations on social media. In fact,

questions are being asked faster than they’re being

answered as we try to define user and company

rights on social media.

Legal Changes to Consumer Rights

Private policy changes similar to General Mills

became noticeable after the 2011 AT&T Mobility v.

Concepcion Supreme Court ruling made it more

difficult for customers to claim fraud and join

together in a single arbitration. This ruling allowed

the company to avoid class-action lawsuits by

using standard form contracts that require customer

disputes be resolved through one-on-one arbitration.

Since this ruling, formal approval of a business’s

policies no longer has to include a physical signature.

Like Us on Facebook for aChance to Waive Your Rights

02Instead, the company can set what it feels may be

voluntary agreement with the brand. Companies have

found interesting ways to get customers to agree to

waive their right to sue, which can include:

— Entering a store or physical location

— Downloading a coupon

— Participating in a contest or sweepstakes

— Being part of an online community

The user doesn’t even have to see this information,

or have knowledge of policy change. As long as the

company can prove that its policy was accessible

to the customer, a court may find that the customer

must abide by the business’s rules. Additionally,

because General Mills owns so many separate

brands, liking any one product may mean users are

waiving their rights to sue for all products within the

family of brands.

Use on Social Media Pages

General Mills saw quite the backlash from consumer

groups and customers after an article detailed the

new policy for its Cheerios pages. If a user accesses

the Cheerios Facebook page and becomes a fan by

“Liking” it, this constitutes as a voluntary agreement

of its privacy policy.

Like Us on Facebook for aChance to Waive Your Rights

03Cheerios responded that it was simply a

policy change by the company. It indicated in

communications that this form of settlement benefits

both the company and its customers, and noted

these policies are communicated clearly in a visible

way. This policy change, however, can only be

viewed on its website, rather than on its social media

pages to which it applies. So when a user goes to the

About section of the community…

… the user does not see anything noted regarding

the changes. Instead, there is a link to Cheerios’

website to see the social media community rules.

This also doesn’t contain the legal information

regarding users agreeing to the new policies via

simple social media interactions. At the bottom of the

page, however, users can find the privacy policy.

Like Us on Facebook for aChance to Waive Your Rights

04

Users are then directed to the Cheerios privacy

policy containing updated language on its new

social media guidelines.

Even in the privacy policy, however, the term

“arbitration” is not mentioned.

Although the policy of a company regarding users’

legal rights is not on social media pages, nor are

the policies directly linked from the social pages,

companies can still suggest that because the

information is available, users are still voluntarily

agreeing to their rules; thus, are waiving their rights

to sue. Due to the backlash, General Mills has since

decided to step back on their stance regarding

forced arbitration.

Future Implications

Consumers may still have a few rights when it

comes to class-action lawsuits, despite this change

in policy. According to legal experts, for example,

many lawsuits can be based on the state and other

jurisdictions, where companies’ arbitration laws may

not. Some courts may still be able to find the policy

change is not enough to bar consumers from entering

legal action. There is little evidence showing how this

new policy will be implemented.

If a company does choose to change its privacy

policy, it must understand the consequences in terms

of how it will affect its relationship with its consumers.

The overall consensus among users regarding these

changes is strongly negative, and many are letting

their opinions be heard on social media. The problem

is that although these changes could protect a

company from lawsuits, they can also be inferred as

a disconnect of trust between the brand and user.

Like Us on Facebook for a Chance to Waive Your Rights

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05That breach of trust between a company and

its target audience can put the brand’s image in

jeopardy, as individuals may view such policy

changes as something against their own interests.

Even clearly laying out the new policy changes,

rather than being covert can have undesirable

consequences, and your users may not be too kind in

letting their opinions be known.

It’s advised that companies weigh both legal and

public relations perspectives when updating the

policies. While it’s important to protect the company’s

interest, it can be equally vital to consider protecting

the brand image as well by not repeating the

mistakes of others.