Introduction to Contracts
Just like any other website dealing with social media, Facebook has terms of service that users must accept by clicking on a box before they go on to create an active account. Many legal experts around the world have questioned the legality of the Facebook terms of service seeing that the agreement process is just ticking a box. However, such terms of service are legally binding, and a violation on either side can result in a legal issue. For instance, agreeing to the terms of service allows face access and use of your personal data for research and another process (Tsay-Vogel, Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2016). This means that even if Facebook uses such information for advertisement purposes, a person cannot sue them since they agreed.
Facebook users need to understand that using the social media service legally binds the user to the terms of service as long as the user accepted to them. For example, the Fteja v. Facebook Inc. lawsuit involved a user whose account had been deactivated by Facebook and thus went to court arguing that blocking the account hurt his feelings. According to the Facebook user, the company terminated his account without justification and for discriminatory reasons and thus decided to sue the company (McAdams, Zucker, Neslund, & Neslund, 2015). The user further wanted the company to face trial for hurting his feelings, inflicting emotional distress and damaging his good reputation with family and friends. However, the court ruled that a forum selection clause, which was contained in the Facebook terms of service could be legally enforceable since the plaintiff agreed to the said terms when creating his Facebook account (Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn, & Hughes, 2009). As such, this means that the company has the right to terminate an account of a user who does follow the terms of service such as posting inciting or discriminatory messages.
Clicking through the Facebook registration page means that the potential user has acknowledged having read, understood and agreed to the terms of service, thus making the terms of service valid and legally enforceable. In the above case, the plaintiff was arguing that there was no proof showing that he had agreed to any terms of service, which could lead to his account being terminated (McAdams, Zucker, Neslund, & Neslund, 2015). A quick review of the Facebook page registration process indicates that a new user provides their personal information and clicks the sign-up button, which then brings up a phrase stating that "By clicking sign up, you are indicating that you have read and agreed to the Terms of Service." Even though the terms of service are not shown immediately, the phrase "Terms of Service" is hyperlinked to show the user that they can use the link to read them (Boyd, Hargittai, Schultz, & Palfrey, 2011). This shows that any user who has the technological and digital ability to understand how to use Facebook also has the capability to understand a hyperlink when they saw one.
Elements of a Valid Contract
Any contract that is legally binding must have some features such as an agreement, consideration, terms, conditions, responsibilities, offer, performance, liability and breach of the contract. The Facebook contract with its users is legally binding since it has all the said elements of a valid contract. An agreement of a contract can be either written or oral, and Facebook's contract with users can be termed as written even though it is electronically transmitted (McAdams, Zucker, Neslund, & Neslund, 2015). Agreeing to the terms of service is said to be the signature that as a user one has read and agreed to the terms of service.
In a valid contract, the agreement process involves one party making the offer and the other one accepting or rejecting such offer. The Facebook sign up page gives the user an offer of agreeing or rejecting to sign up after going through the terms service. By clicking sign up, it means that the user agrees to the terms of service and has thus accepted the offer, which makes the contract valid and legally binding. For the contract to be legally compulsory, it also must have a form of consideration after signing the contract. The form of consideration is for Facebook to offer good services as expected and in turn, the user to comply with the agreed terms of service. The responsibilities and conditions outline the obligations of each party to fulfill the terms of the contract (Marson, 2015). Such duties may include the users agreeing that they will not engage in any hateful message and any failure to follow such obligations leads to termination of the contract by Facebook.
A valid contract also contains the liabilities of each party regarding the contract to make it legally binding. A contract further includes a breach of contract which stipulates the consequences of either party failing to fulfill their end of the agreement. All this information shows the legal elements of a valid contract, which exist between Facebook and its uses concerning the terms of service signed before the commencement of services. Any breach of the contract from either side can lead to legal issues in a court of law. It is essential to note that Facebook Inc. has developed its terms and conditions to avoid violation of the users since it is a social site (McAdams, Zucker, Neslund, & Neslund, 2015). As such, the terms and conditions set out by Facebook aims at protecting the image of the organization as well as other users. The conditions, terms and obligations of the involved parties reflects a valid contract that an individual enters with Facebook, with the latter having an upper hand in defining and elaborating on actions that contradict the terms.
References
Boyd, D., Hargittai, E., Schultz, J., & Palfrey, J. (2011). Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the ‘Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act’. First Monday, 16(11). doi:10.5210/fm.v16i11.3850
Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J. P., Horn, A., & Hughes, B. N. (2009). Facebook and Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1), 83-108. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x
Marson, J. (2015). 6. Essential Features of a Valid Contract 1: Business Law, 111-130. doi:10.1093/he/9780198727347.003.0006
McAdams, T., Zucker , K., Neslund , N., & Neslund, K. (2015). Law, Business, and Society. New York: McGraw Hill.
Tsay-Vogel, M., Shanahan, J., & Signorielli, N. (2016). Social media cultivating perceptions of privacy: A 5-year analysis of privacy attitudes and self-disclosure behaviors among Facebook users. New Media & Society, 146144481666073. doi:10.1177/1461444816660731
