You didn’t help build the platform. You have no say in how it works!

This is probably one of the funniest things I notice but I’m sure infuriates software developers. They build a piece of software and make it available to the public for free (Not monetarily but we definitely pay), and all they ask is for you to read the terms and conditions before you start using it.

Now I can’t say I read every privacy policy or terms and conditions but for the most part I like to at least go through what I can to see what I’m getting myself into. Granted I have better understanding of data collection regarding digital products than the average person so I can’t expect everyone to understand the importance of at the least taking a glance just for your own safety but to each their own.

I’m sure most people will say “Who’s going to read all that”, well that’s the point they know we won’t read it, it just has to be there for legal purposes, if we choose not to that is on us as the user. There’s usually nothing malicious in a terms and conditions policy as these things have been thoroughly reviewed by multiple lawyers but there is usually some aspects to it that you probably wouldn’t be willing to accept if you were to actually read the thing. Also within those terms and conditions it will slightly explain to us the user what we’re exchanging in change for this free product.

“Your Content has been removed for violating our policies.”

The most notorious for this probably occurs with the big 3, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. OnlyFans most recently accepted an very unfair bashing for a decision it made and subsequently overturned. Let’s just say a lot of content creators were “Saved By The Bell”.

They’ve blocked your content or something Is up for review and you have no clue why. Understandably this doesn’t make you happy and you want your content back up, no questions asked. This is where for me, the issue comes into play on the consumers end. To often as consumers of free digital products, we can get caught up feeling as if this FREE product has become a god given right and an injustice is being put upon us when our access has been restricted in some way. As consumers we must take a step back as ourselves, what contribution besides signing up after all the hard work was done did we provide that give us this right to even feel this way? Undoubtably this is more of a subconscious issue but It has become more apparent in todays culture in regarding tech.

I don’t think we have to get into the fact that YES big tech companies do censor content politically or for many other seemingly foolish reasons but we still have to keep in mind that dangers in having this quote un quote “god given right” attitude to use FREE technologies. Do people get booted from platforms for no reason yes, all the time and there’s no denying that, but we also cant keep a blind eye to the fact that this is not our home and if they decided to change the rules at any moment, who are we to say they are wrong.

Tech companies work extremely hard to provide experiences that the average person could only dream about on top of that at a free price. We must be grateful that these technologies even exist for us to even enjoy them as the ideas come from the minds of geniuses. We should not be two faced by accepting an invitation into ones home while not willing to accept ones rules.

Luckily I’m not a software developer but hearing these stories can be very un-nerving. If you’re a Software Developer how do you feel about people feeling it’s their god given right to use platforms like Facebook YouTube or Instagram?