By Assenting to Big Tech TOS with Only Minor Changes
In 2009, the Obama administration assented to Terms of Service of hand-picked social media platforms with only minor changes (not even minor changes with Twitter) and created multiple accounts on them. Consequently, these Platforms – including Google YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – became dominant.
The Obama team used Big Tech standard terms with minimal changes, despite the vast difference of the bargaining power of the federal government and an ordinary user. It also called them “negotiated agreements”, purporting to put the federal government in worse legal position than an ordinary user, protected by the legal theory of contracts of adhesion.
The difference of the “negotiated agreements” from the standard TOS were mostly removal or restriction of indemnity and forum selection clauses. Some agreements restricted platforms’ ability to use the US symbols for self-promotion and to place ads the government content. Almost all other one-sided clauses remained, including the following: Continue reading Obama Admin Shared Government Authority with Big Tech