Forced arbitration: Difference between revisions

Companies track performance of arbitrators over time, and as such, are able to pick arbitrators that lean towards the industry rather than the consumer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seru |first=Amit |date=Feb 2023 |title=Tipping the scales: Balancing consumer arbitration cases. |url=https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/tipping-scales-balancing-consumer-arbitration-cases |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2025 |website=Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research}}</ref> While both the consumer and company theoretically have some control over the selection of the arbitrator, the company generally has an information advantage in the selection process. Furthermore, individual arbitrators have a long-term financial incentive to bias their rulings in favor of corporations, as the corporation is much more likely to become a "repeat customer" than the consumer. In extreme cases, entire arbitration firms may have a material conflict of interest.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 Jul 2009 |title=NAF Announcement — Out of Consumer Arbitration |url=http://indisputably.org/2009/07/naf-announcement-out-of-consumer-arbitration/ |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2025 |website=indisputably.org}}</ref>

[[File:BadPiggiesArbitration.png|thumb|An example of forced arbitration, where the user has to agree to arbitration, regardless of if the software was previously installed on their device]]

For digital software in particular, they can be retroactively amended to require the user to agree to forced arbitration, while blocking the user from accessing the content they paid for until they agree to this binding arbitration. In the case of the mobile game ''Bad Piggies'', published by [[Rovio]], regardless of if the end user chose to not update their game or had the game previously installed since before the publisher instituted arbitration, said user is incapable of playing the game until they agree to binding arbitration.<ref>{{Cite web |last=u/JamesTDG |date=Oct 30, 2025 |title=r/badpiggies - God damn it, Rovio, you put arbitration into the game I ALREADY PAID FOR |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/badpiggies/comments/1oklx98/god_damn_it_rovio_you_put_arbitration_into_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button |access-date=Oct 30, 2025 |website=Reddit}}</ref><!-- This is TYPICALLY a no-no. Do NOT cite yourselves on the wiki! I am however the first person to post about this issue on the subreddit, so I can only cite myself here. When others post about it, I will change the ref. -->

*Bandcamp Terms of Service, as of 2025-10-20. In addition, users in countries where forced arbitration is not allowed cannot use the service: "Use of the Service is not authorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms of Use, including without limitation, this section."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bandcamp Terms of Use |url=https://bandcamp.com/terms_of_use |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251013161152/https://bandcamp.com/terms_of_use |archive-date=2025-10-13 |access-date=2025-10-20 |website=Bandcamp}}</ref>

*Indeed Terms of Service, as of 2025-08-22 - Section D: General Terms for All Users - 12. Arbitration Agreement<ref>{{Cite web |title=Terms of Service |url=https://www.indeed.com/legal#d12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250825081104/https://www.indeed.com/legal#d12 |archive-date=2025-08-25 |access-date=2025-09-02 |website=[[Indeed]]}}</ref>

*Instagram Terms of Use - Section 7.4 - How We Will Handle Disputes<ref name=":0" />