Mastodon
Weighted across nine legal categories. Lower is worse.
Executive summary
Mastodon's terms for mastodon.social are unusually consumer friendly in several places. You keep full ownership of anything you post, the license you grant is narrow and ends when you delete your content, and the liability and dispute clauses closely follow protective German consumer law rather than trying to waive your rights. You can leave at any time with no notice, and if the company changes the terms you get at least 30 days warning plus an explanation and the right to close your account instead. The main gaps are what this document does not say. It never explains how or why the company itself might suspend or terminate your account, and it defers almost all privacy detail to a separate privacy policy that was not reviewed here. If you live outside the EU or EEA, note that disputes default to German courts and German law, though your home country's mandatory consumer protections are still preserved.
Category breakdown
Acceptance of Terms & Scope
Contract formation and service boundaries
The terms apply once a user registers an account and remain in effect until either party deletes it, which functions as an implicit clickwrap tied to registration rather than a separate explicit acceptance step. The scope is clearly limited to registered users of mastodon.social and explicitly excludes people on other federated servers who merely interact with visible content. The document does not state any minimum age requirement or age verification step for registration, and it offers no plain language summary alongside the legal text.
Key findings
- Agreement begins at account registration and lasts until the account is deleted by either party.
- Scope is explicitly limited to registered users of mastodon.social, not federated users on other servers.
- No age requirement or age verification is mentioned anywhere in the document.
- No plain language summary is provided alongside the legal terms.
- The English and German versions are declared equally binding, with German controlling in case of conflict, which could disadvantage English reading users in a dispute.
Evidence from the document
These terms apply to the provision of the Service by us to registered users of the Service.
They apply when you register an account to use the Service, and continue until you, or we, delete your account.
These terms are provided in equally authoritative German and English versions. These versions are equally binding; in case of any inconsistency, the German version shall prevail.
These terms do not apply to anyone who is not a registered user of the Service.
Recommendations
- Confirm whether the signup flow requires an explicit checkbox or click to accept these terms before you rely on this document alone.
- If you are a minor or a parent of one, note there is no stated age floor for registration.
- Keep a copy of the terms version in effect when you registered, since the German text legally controls over the English text you are likely reading.
User Accounts
Registration, suspension, and termination
The document gives users a clean, no notice right to delete their own account at any time, which is a genuine consumer protection. However, it says nothing about how or when the company itself may suspend or terminate a user's account, what conduct would trigger that, whether notice or a cure period is given, or whether any appeal exists. That silence leaves account enforcement entirely undocumented in this text, likely deferred to a separate content or conduct policy not included here.
Key findings
- Users can delete their own account at any time without needing to notify the company.
- No clause describes company initiated suspension or termination criteria for user accounts.
- No notice, cure period, or appeal process for account action is mentioned anywhere.
- No mention of data export before account closure.
- The service wide suspension clause covers the platform's operation generally, not individual account enforcement.
Evidence from the document
You can end this agreement at any time by deleting your account. You do not need to notify us.
They apply when you register an account to use the Service, and continue until you, or we, delete your account.
We may suspend, limit, or cease to operate any or all of the Service, or vary its functionality, if and to the extent reasonably necessary for operational, security, legal, or business reasons.
Recommendations
- Look for a separate server rules or content policy document, since this terms page does not explain how your account could be suspended.
- Export your data periodically since no pre closure export right is documented here.
- Ask the instance operator directly what due process, if any, applies before an account is suspended.
Intellectual Property & UGC
Content ownership and licensing
Users clearly retain ownership of everything they post, and the company takes only a narrow, non-exclusive, royalty-free license limited to operating the service, such as hosting, format conversion, translation, and backups. The license ends automatically when content is deleted, with a transparent carve-out explaining that deleted content may briefly persist in backups and that federation to other servers is outside the company's control. This is a consumer favorable structure with real limits on scope and duration.
Key findings
- Ownership of user content is explicitly retained by the user, not the platform.
- The license granted to the company is non-exclusive, royalty-free, and limited to operating and maintaining the service.
- The license ends automatically when the user deletes their content, aside from a disclosed backup retention exception.
- The document is transparent that federated content copied to other servers may not be deletable by the company.
- No attribution requirement or revenue share is mentioned, but none is needed since no broad commercial license is claimed.
Evidence from the document
Nothing in these terms gives us ownership of your Content. Whoever owns the Content retains ownership.
When you upload Content to the Service, you automatically grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence solely to operate and maintain the Service
If you delete your Content, your Licence to us, in respect of us continuing to host, make available, and transmit that Content, ends automatically.
Content that you have deleted from the live Service may remain in our backups.
Recommendations
- Understand that deleting a post removes the company's live hosting license immediately but a backup copy may briefly persist.
- Remember that federation means your public posts may already be copied to other servers beyond this company's control before you delete them.
- If you need guaranteed permanent deletion across the fediverse, treat anything posted publicly as potentially non retractable.
Data Privacy
Data collection, usage, and protection
This document contains almost no substantive privacy content. It defines relevant data protection terminology and states that separate data processing terms apply only in the rare case the company acts as a processor rather than a controller, then points users to a standalone privacy policy for everything else. Since the actual collection, use, sharing, retention, and rights content lives in that companion document, which was not provided, this category cannot be scored on its real merits and is treated as thin coverage.
Key findings
- The terms of service defer nearly all substantive privacy content to a separate privacy policy not included in this document.
- A separate data processing terms document is referenced for the limited case where the company acts as a data processor.
- The document confirms GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive are treated as applicable Data Protection Legislation.
- No collection, retention, sharing, or user rights details appear directly in this document.
- The company states it will be a controller, not a processor, for the vast majority of users and activities.
Evidence from the document
If, under Data Protection Legislation, you are the controller of the processing of personal data and we are carrying out one or more processing activities on your behalf as your processor, our data processing terms for mastodon.social apply in respect of those processing activities.
The data processing terms for mastodon.social do not apply when we are a controller in respect of a processing activity. In respect of those processing activities, please see our privacy policy.
we will be a controller, not a processor, and our data processing terms will not apply.
Recommendations
- Read the separate privacy policy directly, since this terms document does not describe what data is collected or how it is used.
- Check the data processing terms only if you are using the service on behalf of an organization that controls the data.
- Confirm the privacy policy's retention and deletion commitments separately, since none appear here.
Payment & Subscriptions
Billing and subscription management
Mastodon.social is explicitly stated to be a free service with no payment obligation at all, so billing, auto renewal, cancellation, and refund risks that this category evaluates do not exist in this document. Because the category is genuinely not addressed, a neutral score is used rather than a judgment of the company's billing practices.
Key findings
- The document explicitly states the service is free and users pay nothing.
- No subscription, auto renewal, billing, or refund terms appear anywhere in the document.
- This category is not applicable to the reviewed terms as written.
Evidence from the document
You can use the Service without paying us anything. This is a free Service.
This is a free Service with limited liability
Recommendations
- No payment related action is needed since the service is presented as free.
- If the instance you use charges for enhanced access, check for a separate billing policy, since none exists in this document.
Limitation of Liability
Risk allocation and legal protection
The liability clause is unusually consumer favorable and closely follows German civil law's mandatory carve outs. The company accepts full liability for injury to life, body, or health, for intent, for gross negligence, and under product liability law. Liability for ordinary negligence is limited only to breaches of material contractual obligations and capped at typical, foreseeable damages, rather than excluded outright, and the same standard extends to the company's vicarious agents. There is no attempt to disclaim liability for willful misconduct or non waivable statutory rights.
Key findings
- Full liability is retained for injury to life, body, or health, for intent, and for gross negligence.
- Liability under the German Product Liability Act is expressly preserved.
- Ordinary negligence liability is capped at typical and foreseeable damages only for breaches of material obligations, not excluded entirely.
- The same liability standard is applied to subcontractors and vicarious agents used to run the service.
- The clause is written in plain paragraphs rather than buried in dense boilerplate.
Evidence from the document
We are fully liable for damages resulting from injury to life, body, or health; for intent; for gross negligence; and under the Product Liability Act (ProdHaftG) or to the effect that nothing limits liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.
In such cases, liability is limited to typical and foreseeable damages.
The same applies to liability of our vicarious agents (e.g., people or companies we use to run the Service) for breaches of contractual obligations.
We remain fully responsible for the performance of all such obligations.
Recommendations
- Understand that claims involving intent, gross negligence, or injury are not capped, while ordinary negligence claims are capped to foreseeable damages.
- If a dispute involves a subcontractor such as a hosting provider, know the company remains fully responsible for that subcontractor's performance.
Indemnification
Legal responsibility allocation
No indemnification, hold harmless, or defense cost clause of any kind appears anywhere in this document. Users are not asked to cover the company's legal fees, defense costs, or claims arising from their use of the service. This absence is favorable to consumers, but because indemnification is not addressed as a dedicated topic, the assessment carries lower confidence than a category with explicit protective language.
Key findings
- The document contains no indemnification or hold harmless clause requiring users to cover the company's legal costs.
- There is no language shifting liability for third party claims onto the user.
- The company states it remains fully responsible for the performance of subcontractors it engages, rather than passing that risk to users.
- Because the topic is not addressed directly, this reading could change if a companion policy not included here contains indemnity language.
Evidence from the document
We remain fully responsible for the performance of all such obligations.
No-one other than you or us has any rights under these terms, and no-one other than you or us has any right to enforce these terms.
Nothing in these terms establishes any partnership, joint venture, or agency between you and us.
Recommendations
- Treat the absence of an indemnity clause as favorable, but check for any separate developer or API terms if you build on top of the service, since those sometimes carry their own indemnification language.
- Re check this section if the company later publishes a dedicated acceptable use or API policy.
Modification of Terms
How agreements can be changed
Changes require at least 30 days advance notice except where a shorter legally mandated period applies, and the company commits to explaining both the change and its reasoning rather than posting silent edits. Changes are also constrained to cases where the current terms are outdated, incomplete, or where the change is reasonable to the user or legally necessary. Users who disagree may close their account, though the document does not explicitly promise the changes apply only prospectively, which is a minor gap given the service is free.
Key findings
- At least 30 days advance notice is required before changes take effect, absent a shorter legal deadline.
- The company commits to explaining the changes and the reasons behind them.
- Changes are limited to cases where current terms are outdated, incomplete, legally required, or reasonable to the user.
- Users who disagree with updated terms may close their account at any time.
- The document does not explicitly state whether changes apply retroactively or only going forward.
Evidence from the document
We will notify you at least 30 days in advance before making such changes to these terms, unless such changes are required by law within a shorter period, in which case we will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable.
We will explain the changes to you and the reasons behind them
if you do not agree to our updated terms or wish to end this agreement, you may close your account at any time.
We will only make changes if the terms are no longer appropriate or are incomplete as concerns the Service
Recommendations
- Watch for the 30 day notice period before any term change takes effect and read the stated reasoning.
- If you disagree with a future change, you can close your account rather than being bound automatically.
- Ask the company to clarify whether changes ever apply retroactively, since the text does not say.
Governing Law & Disputes
Jurisdiction and conflict resolution
There is no arbitration clause, no class action waiver, and no jury waiver anywhere in the document, which already puts it ahead of most consumer contracts in this category. EU and EEA resident consumers get a strong protection: they may only be sued, and may only sue, in the courts of their own country of habitual residence, with that country's mandatory consumer protection law applying regardless of the German choice of law. Consumers outside the EU and EEA are less protected since they remain subject to German courts and German law, though the text still preserves their home country's mandatory consumer protections and does not strip small claims access or impose fee shifting.
Key findings
- No mandatory arbitration clause, class action waiver, or jury waiver appears in the document.
- EU and EEA resident consumers may sue and be sued only in their own country of habitual residence.
- Mandatory consumer protection laws of the consumer's own country apply regardless of the general choice of German law.
- Consumers outside the EU and EEA remain subject to German courts and German law, a less favorable venue for them.
- No fee shifting, loser pays provision, or short claims deadline is mentioned.
Evidence from the document
If you are a consumer resident in the EU/EEA, the following applies instead: you may bring proceedings against us, and we may bring proceedings against you, only in the courts of your country of habitual residence
the mandatory consumer-protection laws of that country apply to you regardless of the choice of German law above.
For all other users, including consumers resident outside the EU/EEA, German law and the jurisdiction of the German courts apply, except that, if you are a consumer, nothing in these terms deprives you of the protection of any mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence.
The competent courts of Germany shall have jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these terms.
Recommendations
- If you live in the EU or EEA, you can bring or defend a claim in your own home country courts under your own consumer protection law.
- If you live outside the EU and EEA, be aware you may need to litigate in Germany under German law, though your home country's mandatory consumer protections still apply.
- Keep the contact email on file for informal dispute resolution before pursuing formal proceedings.
Ex-TerCo provides automated analysis of legal documents for informational purposes. This is not legal advice. Terms can change at any time.