47 minutes to read a privacy policy, but 87 per cent didn't bother

Nov 24, 2020 at 07:59 pm by Staff


With terms like API, cookies and third-party data, you'd need a reading age of 17 to understand TikTok's privacy policy... but you only need to be 13 to sign up.

The paradox is one of several identified in a survey by Addictivetips.com which also noted that 87 per cent of people accepted privacy policies without reading them.

On average, social media privacy policies took more than 47 minutes to read fully, with those for TikTok, WhatsApp and Linkedin among the longest.

Addictivetips.com surveyed 2105 individuals to investigate how well understood they were, and how readable they were relative to the age ranges allowed to sign up.

Some 89 per cent of participants said they were too long, but 83 per cent said they would consent whether they read it or not, and 74 per cent felt they wouldn't be able to grasp what they were reading.

Most didn't understand commonly-used terms such as API (62 per cent), cookies (57 per cent) and third-party (53 per cent), while IP address baffled 46 per cent and GDPR 41 per cent.

Topping the list of commonly used lexical jargon, API (application programming interface) appears four times on average across the privacy policies looked at.

The disparity between reading level and minimum sign up age is not only an issue for TikTok. WeChat, Reddit, Quora and Twitch have the highest difficulty levels, as the estimated reading age is 17 to 18-year olds, although their minimum sign-up age is 13.

Tumblr and Flickr users have a better chance understanding what they are signing themselves up for as the reading grade matches that of eight to ten-year olds.

Addictivetips.com surveyed 2105 people aged 18-50, and calculated reading grade using the Web FX Readability test tool.

Sections: Digital business

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