JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Terms and conditions define the relationship between social media companies and users when the latter employ one of their services. However, these legal agreements are long and written in complex language. It remains questionable whether users (and particularly younger users) understand the terms and conditions and are aware of the consequences of joining such a network. Informing users about the use of their data in way one can grasp the essential information is a key because today’s social media apps collect a wide range of data ranging from non-sensitive data to very sensitive health data (if data is interlinked). With children interacting form a young age with social media, companies are thus acquiring large amounts of data, resulting in a longitudinal data sets, researchers can only dream of. This paper offers an ethical analysis of the most common social media apps/services including how users are informed and give consent regarding topics like privacy and discusses how experiences form research ethics could serve as role model and lead to a trusted partnership between users and social media companies.