U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and U.S. Representative Lori Trahan (MA-03) have reintroduced the TLDR Act on July 11, 2023. This legislation seeks to require commercial websites and mobile apps to provide a simplified, readable, and easily accessible summary of their terms-of-service agreements according to a press release.
“Consumers deserve the ability to make informed decisions online without wading through confusing pages of legal jargon,”
“Too many companies take advantage of consumers by burying critical details about their data policies and shield themselves from legal liability. The TLDR Act will help empower and protect consumers. Informing consumers is a bipartisan issue, and I’m proud to join my colleagues to provide real choice online,” U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján, Chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband said, according to a press release,
U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján and Bill Cassidy, M.D. along with U.S. Representative Lori Trahan reintroduced the TLDR Act, a legislative proposal designed to address the issue of lengthy and complex terms-of-service agreements on commercial websites and mobile apps. The Act requires these online platforms, with the exception of small businesses, to present a concise, easily comprehensible summary of their terms at the beginning of the agreement, utilizing machine-readable tags to enhance accessibility for both consumers and researchers. Furthermore, the provided summaries will explicitly inform users about data collection and sharing practices with third parties, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be authorized to provide guidance and ensure compliance with the new requirements, according to a press release.
“It is long overdue for companies to be required to provide an easy-to-understand summary of their terms of services instead of the pages of legal jargon currently used,” U.S. Senator Dr. Bill Cassidy said, according to a press release. “Americans have the right to know and understand how their data is collected and used.”
“Blanket terms of service agreements have forced consumers to either ‘agree’ to all of a company’s conditions or lose access to a website or app entirely. No negotiation, no alternative, and no real choice,” Congresswoman Lori Trahan said, according to a press release. “Some companies have taken advantage of this ultimatum to design unnecessarily long and complicated contracts, knowing that users don’t have the bandwidth to read lengthy legal documents when they’re simply trying to message a loved one or make a quick purchase. The TLDR Act will return power back to consumers by requiring companies to provide a simple, transparent description of what’s in their terms of service agreements, something the American people overwhelmingly support.”
