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Terms of use

Meta

Meta Terms of Service

C

Risk score

39of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • You are agreeing to terms that allow Meta to show you personalized ads based on your data and content.
  • You grant a broad license for your photos, videos, and posts, which they can share with other users or service providers.
  • Meta also limits its legal liability and requires disputes to be resolved in California courts.

What you accept

If you tap Agree

Everyday words for the material promises and rights you give up. Each line includes a quote from the document.

  1. 01

    You are agreeing to let Meta use, store, and share your photos, videos, and posts across its products and with third-party service providers.

    This product

    “you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content”
  2. 02

    You are agreeing that Meta can use your name and profile picture in ads and sponsored content without paying you.

    This product

    “You give us permission to use your name and profile picture and information about actions you have taken on Facebook next to or in connection with ads, offers, and other sponsored or commercial content that we display across our Products, without any compensation to you.”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing that any legal dispute must be heard in courts in San Mateo County, California.

    This product

    “any claim, cause of action, or dispute between us that arises out of or relates to these Terms... shall be resolved exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo County.”
  4. 04

    You are agreeing that Meta is not responsible if its services are unsafe, insecure, or fail, and limits its liability to $100.

    This product

    “Our Products, however, are provided "as is," and we make no guarantees that they always will be safe, secure, or error-free... Our aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Meta Products will not exceed the greater of $100 or the amount you have paid us in the past twelve months.”

What it can cost you

Downsides we could quote

Quoted clauses that can affect your privacy, money, or right to go to court — including terms that follow you to other products.

Highest-cost clauses first

High cost

Broad license to user content

You are agreeing to grant Meta a broad, sub-licensable right to use your content.

“you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content”

What that means: Meta can reuse your creative work in ways that go beyond simple hosting, including sharing it with partners.

The document grants Meta a very broad license to use your content, including rights to modify, translate, and sublicense it to others.

Medium cost

Unilateral changes with little or no notice

You are agreeing to be bound by updated terms if you continue to use the service.

“Unless otherwise required by law, we will notify you before we make changes to these Terms... Once any updated Terms are in effect, you will be bound by them if you continue to access or use our Products.”

What that means: Continued usage after notification means you accept the new rules automatically.

Meta can change the terms and bind you to them if you keep using the service after being notified.

Medium cost

Liability shifted onto the user

You are agreeing to accept 'as-is' service with limited financial recourse against Meta.

“Our Products, however, are provided "as is," and we make no guarantees that they always will be safe, secure, or error-free... Our aggregate liability... will not exceed the greater of $100”

What that means: If the service causes you loss or harm, you likely cannot recover significant costs from them.

Meta disclaims warranties and limits its financial responsibility for damages to a small cap, even if their service fails.

Medium cost

Indefinite retention

You are agreeing that deleted content may remain in backups for up to 90 days.

“After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.”

What that means: Your content remains accessible to the system for recovery purposes well after you believe it is gone.

Deleted content persists in backup systems for up to 90 additional days after the deletion request begins.

People also accept these terms in

The same company terms often apply on these apps or devices. This is a lookup aid, not a claim we caught this company.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Whatsapp
  • Meta Quest
  • Oculus

If these terms already apply to you

Keep this list. Fineprint cannot undo or cancel something you already agreed to at the company.

We cannot see Agree on their site. With Premium, tap “I accepted these terms” if you already agreed to what Meta asks.