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Terms of use

Meta

Meta Terms of Service

F

Risk score

76of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • This document gives Meta permission to show you personalized ads using your data and grants them a broad license to use, copy, and share content you upload.
  • You accept that account changes can happen if you keep using the service, and liability for errors is limited to a small amount or what you have paid.
  • You also agree that disputes must 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 give Meta a worldwide, sublicensable license to use, copy, and share the photos, videos, and other content you post.

    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 may change these Terms and bind you to them if you continue to use their products without deleting your account.

    This product

    “Once any updated Terms are in effect, you will be bound by them if you continue to access or use our Products.”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing that any legal disputes must be handled in California state or federal courts under California law.

    Other products, stores, or brands

    “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.”

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

Jury trial or court access waived

You are agreeing to handle all lawsuits in California courts only.

“any claim, cause of action, or dispute between us ... 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.”

What that means: Legal conflicts must be fought far from home in jurisdictions chosen by the company.

Disputes are strictly limited to specific courts in California, removing the right to local jury trials in many cases.

High cost

Broad license to user content

You are agreeing to let the company use and share your personal content globally.

“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: Your posts and images can be used or shared by the company or its partners indefinitely until deleted.

Users give the platform wide rights to use, sell, or share their creative work with others.

High cost

Liability shifted onto the user

You are agreeing that the company is not liable for most issues beyond a small fee cap.

“We do not control or direct what people and others do or say, and we are not responsible for their actions or conduct... 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 that means: You may have little to no legal recourse for damages caused by service failures or other users.

The company refuses responsibility for user conduct and caps its financial liability to a very low amount.

High cost

Difficult or incomplete deletion

You are agreeing to a delay in permanent data removal due to backup retention.

“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: You cannot immediately erase your information from all of the company's servers.

Deleted items can remain in backup archives for extended periods even after the main deletion request.

Medium cost

Unilateral changes with little or no notice

You are agreeing that using the service after a change means you accept the new 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: You might be bound by new restrictions without needing to click 'Agree' again.

The company can update the agreement whenever it wants and your continued use acts as acceptance of those new rules.

Medium cost

Terms follow you to parks, stores, and other products

You are agreeing to follow multiple different rulebooks depending on how you use the site.

“if you access or use our Products for commercial or business purposes... you must agree to our Commercial Terms... If you post or share content containing music, you must comply with our Music Guidelines.”

What that means: You trigger extra sets of rules just by using specific parts of the service.

Using the platform for certain activities or features automatically binds you to additional separate agreements.

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.