Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during Tuesday’s congressional testimony, saying “gently” that “your user agreement sucks” and that he’d be willing to vote to regulate the social media platform if necessary.
The senator believes Facebook’s user agreement is designed more to protect the company from legal recourse than it is to protect the consumers that use their product.
Which is the purpose of every user agreement ever created, isn’t it?
The comments seem to indicate Kennedy may be the first person in America who’s ever actually read a user agreement on a media site before.
“I say this gently,” Kennedy said to Zuckerberg. “Your user agreement sucks.”
"Here's what everybody's been trying to tell you today, and I say this gently. Your user agreement sucks." – Sen. Kennedy to Mark Zuckerberg pic.twitter.com/lZgNYDZtOQ
— VICE News (@vicenews) April 10, 2018
“The purpose of a user agreement is to cover Facebook’s rear end, not inform users of their rights,” Kennedy accused.
“I’m going to suggest you go home and rewrite it, and tell your $1,200 dollar an hour lawyer … you want it written in English not Swahili, so the average American user can understand,” he added.
Zuckerberg responded, “I would imagine probably most people do not read the whole thing … But everyone has the opportunity to and consents to it.”
Many viewers agreed with Kennedy’s statement but weren’t quite sure where he was trying to go with it.
All user agreements suck. https://t.co/5MifTFP237
— ideawala (@ideawala) April 10, 2018
Come on. You can't be surprised. That's the purpose of every user agreement from every company. https://t.co/wcpFsXwVRF
— Angelo, like, really Wentzler (@meneer_pastoor) April 11, 2018
Fact: The purpose of nearly every single EULA out there is to protect the licensors’ rear end. https://t.co/sFIi4owd31
— 右旋單色檸檬子 (@Monoremonton) April 11, 2018
Perhaps that’s true. Facebook’s user agreement is designed to prevent legal action being taken against them should say, the data of 87 million users be shared improperly.
Now that we know it’s the case, Facebook should probably heed Kennedy’s advice and do a rewrite and shift that agreement’s purpose to provide a better explanation to the user -, especially conservative users – on how their data will be protected.
And they might want to do it quickly.
“I come in peace,” Kennedy said to Zuckerberg. “I don’t want to have to vote to regulate Facebook, but I will.”
Having the government regulate social media will truly suck.
Does Facebook’s user agreement suck? Have you ever actually read it? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Fox News Insider
