Annotated Terms of Service of 100 Online Platforms

The dataset contains information about the contents of 100 Terms of Service (ToS) of online platforms. The documents were analyzed and evaluated from the point of view of the European Union consumer law. The main results have been presented in the table titled "Terms of Service Analysis and Evaluation_RESULTS." This table is accompanied by the instruction followed by the annotators, titled "Variables Definitions," allowing for the interpretation of the assigned values. In addition, we provide the raw data (analyzed ToS, in the folder "Clear ToS") and the annotated documents (in the folder "Annotated ToS," further subdivided).

SAMPLE: The sample contains 100 contracts of digital platforms operating in sixteen market sectors: Cloud storage, Communication, Dating, Finance, Food, Gaming, Health, Music, Shopping, Social, Sports, Transportation, Travel, Video, Work, and Various. The selected companies' main headquarters span four legal surroundings: the US, the EU, Poland specifically, and Other jurisdictions. The chosen platforms are both privately held and publicly listed and offer both fee-based and free services. Although the sample cannot be treated as representative of all online platforms, it nevertheless accounts for the most popular consumer services in the analyzed sectors and contains a diverse and heterogeneous set.

CONTENT: Each ToS has been assigned the following information:
1. Metadata: 1.1. the name of the service; 1.2. the URL; 1.3. the effective date; 1.4. the language of ToS; 1.5. the sector; 1.6. the number of words in ToS; 1.7–1.8. the jurisdiction of the main headquarters; 1.9. if the company is public or private; 1.10. if the service is paid or free.
2. Evaluative Variables: remedy clauses (2.1– 2.5); dispute resolution clauses (2.6–2.10); unilateral alteration clauses (2.11–2.15); rights to police the behavior of users (2.16–2.17); regulatory requirements (2.18–2.20); and various (2.21–2.25).
3. Count Variables: the number of clauses seen as unclear (3.1) and the number of other documents referred to by the ToS (3.2).
4. Pull-out Text Variables: rights and obligations of the parties (4.1) and descriptions of the service (4.2)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The research leading to these results has received funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, project no. 2020/37/K/HS5/02769, titled “Private Law of Data: Concepts, Practices, Principles & Politics.”