Have you ever read the terms and conditions of your favourite online app? Or the privacy policy?
It turns out that many people are interested in what they are agreeing to – but actually getting through the legalese could be an issue.
Reboot Online Marketing utilised online analytics tool Ahrefs to discover which online applications individuals are most curious about the legal terms and policies for users.
The study found that WhatsApp is in number one spot as there is an average 29 640 global online searches per month for the popular communication platforms legal terms and policies for users.
In second position is Discord with an average 15 750 worldwide online searches a month from those keen to discover and understand the digital distribution platforms legal terms and policies for users.
Instagram is in third place, as there are an average 13 400 global online searches each month for the photo and video sharing giants’ legal terms and policies for users.
Facebook (9 600) and YouTube (9 300) are among the other online applications which receive more than 9,000 worldwide online searches every month from internet users wanting to check and digest each of their respective legal terms and policies for users, consequently ranking fourth and fifth.
At the other end in 10th position is Amazon, the e-commerce juggernaut attains 1 500 global online searches a month from those consumers interested in their key legal terms and policies for users.
Additionally, from the online applications that were identified as the ten individuals are most curious about the legal terms and policies for users, Reboot Online Marketing also sought to find out how long it takes to read the respective ‘terms of service’ as well as ‘privacy policy’ of each of the online applications in the top 10.
Reboot Online Marketing found that it takes the most amount of time to read Shopify’s terms of service at an approximate 76,7 minutes. Contrastingly, it takes the least amount of time to read Instagram’s terms of service at an estimated 25.7 minutes.
Moreover, it takes the most amount of time to read PayPal’s privacy policy at an approximate 53,3 minutes. On the other hand, it takes the least amount of time to read Shopify’s privacy policy at an estimated 12,4 minutes.
When combining the time needed to read both sets of key legal user agreements, PayPal comes out on top as it would take an approximate 92 minutes to read their terms of service and privacy policy in one sitting.
Shopify (89,1 minutes), Amazon (82,7 minutes), WhatsApp (81,4 minutes) and Twitter (81,1 minutes) are among the other online applications where potential/existing users would take more than an estimated 80 minutes to read their respective terms of service and privacy policy one after the other.