Blog #5

 Never have I ever read a company's terms and conditions policy that they usually present to you before you join. These policies are always way too long and always seem irrelevant to me. I only say this because I do not see how I would personally ever use the app where I would break any of their policies. Also, I think companies make their policies extremely long to get people not to read them in case there is something that is said that might make people not use their app. 

  
  Snapchat is one social media platform that I have no clue what is in their terms and conditions. This platform is used to send pictures or messages back and forth between you and your friends. These messages are only available to the other person for up to ten seconds. You can also create a story that can be visible to everyone which could stay posted for at least 24 hours. Snapchat has become very popular over the years and has taken over as the new way to "text." I have always heard rumors that even though you think the picture goes away in ten seconds, it actually is forever able to be accessed.


  After you first get Snapchat, you never really see the terms and conditions policy anymore. It never reappears after they show it to you in the beginning. I had to go to the Snapchat settings through the app and scroll pretty far down until I saw Terms of Service. It was not too hard to find, but it also was not the most accessible. The policy does have headers, so it does make it easy to navigate to certain parts of the policy agreement. However, it is extremely lengthy which makes users not want to read any of it, and the people who make it know that. So, most people do not know what they are actually signing up for. 

  After reviewing Snapchat's terms of service, I was surprised by what I found. I had no clue you had to be at least 13 to use this platform. I knew Facebook had an age limit, but I had no idea other social media platforms did as well. I 100% broke this condition because I have had a Snapchat since sixth grade. I found it hilarious when Snapchat said, "of course, if you don’t agree with them, then don’t use the Services." Obviously, if we do not agree, then we should not use Snapchat; however, no one knows what they are agreeing to anyways. 

  One big takeaway was when I saw that they do have the right to review and access your content at any time. This was one thing I was mainly looking to find because a lot of people assume that once they send it, then it automatically goes away. In reality, Snapchat can go back and pull up anything that you have sent (at least that is the way I understood it). They did not go into details on this subject but simply stated they can review content. I was interested in finding this information because when I was in middle school, there was a huge High School scandal in my hometown where several students got their phones taken by the police because of the spreading of sexual content. One huge factor seemed to be Snapchat, and the rumor was that the police were going to get all previous snaps that were sent. I honestly have no clue if this actually happened, but I do not think it did. The scandal did happen, and phones were taken, but I believe it all eventually just went away. 

  Also, while I was searching for whether Snapchat could pull up snaps that people thought were gone forever, I noticed that they suggest for viewers to read their privacy policy for more information. The privacy policy is another lengthy document. So, to find important information, you have to read one long document to get to another document. This does not seem so accessible anymore. The key thing that is missing in the terms policy is details. Some of the policy reads like a strict contract which confuses viewers because they do not understand what is being said. Most points seem pretty direct, but do not give any detail to the situation. Another thing that is missing is the punishments. I did not find what would happen if someone were to break the contract. I did see that they could take away your account for any reason and at any time. It says you are not allowed to recreate an account after Snapchat takes it from you, but what is in place to stop people? Also, if they were to recreate an account, what would be the punishment? These questions do not seem to be answered in the terms and conditions policy. 

  Snapchat terms and conditions policy has what you would think to be in a company's policy. It discusses things you can and cannot do with your account, as well as other safety features. The policy clearly states that no user may bully, harass, intimidate or spam users. However, they also stated that they cannot monitor all content. This means that "digital drama" will happen which is negative consumer online behaviors such as bullying, sexting, and abuse (Scheinbaum, 2018). Snapchat clearly states that they are not responsible for this because they cannot review all content that is being sent because there is so much online exposure, but they do prohibit those actions from taking place in their conditions policy. Crime and justice will occur on social media and usually involves an invasion of privacy (Salter, 2017). Even though these actions are in violation of the terms of service, actions may not be taken because of a lack of reporting and the amount of content that is circling the platform already. 

  Overall, the terms and conditions policy is long and the way it is worded makes young viewers ignore it. I ran a twitter poll to see if other classmates ignored the terms and conditions. As of now, 87% of the class never reads these policies. This number is expected to go up as people continue to vote. Even after reading Snapchat policy, I still probably will not read terms and conditions policies in the future. 

References:

Salter, M. (2017). Crime, justice, and social media. London, England: Routledge.

Scheinbaum, A. C. (2018). A framework for the dark side of social media. New York, NY: Routledge