User agreement (Terms of Service, ToS) in the context of the «age of surveillance capitalism»

This article explores the legal nature of user agreements within the modern socio-cultural context. The analysis of the current moment draws on Shoshana Zuboff’s work The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. It is argued that contract forms are shaped by the social, cultural, and mental structures of a given society. Today’s world, marked by the rapid development and spread of information and communication technologies, has given rise to new phenomena in legal regulation one of which is the user agreement between a developer (provider of information services) and a user. This process is linked to the centralization of power in the hands of internet intermediaries, which significantly affects private regulation. Such private regulation is grounded in the pivotal role of Terms of Service (ToS) agreements. The technical implementation of ToS becomes one of the tools for regulating and managing the internet ecosystem. The legal nature of these user agreements (ToS) differs substantially from that of classical contracts, often resulting in violations of human rights standards. As an effective regulatory tool in the digital environment, the Terms of Service exhibit specific characteristics: they unilaterally impose rules on the user; they do not involve negotiation between parties; they obligate the user to comply with rules that benefit the developer; they lack intuitive understanding or clarity; they are not designed to reflect the autonomous will of the parties-particularly the user. To achieve the goal of the article, the Terms of Service of platforms such as Customer.io and ChatGPT were analyzed. The article also emphasizes that the phenomenon of the modern user agreement correlates with the human right to access the Internet, which is an organic component of the right to information. It is noted that in modern legal systems, the right to information is enshrined in civil law provisions.