Forced arbitration is something many companies are including in their terms of service, and it essentially says that any disputes will not be settled in court, but by a private arbitration company out of view of the public record. Arbitration is supposed to be a mutually-agreed-upon option if both parties want to settle a dispute quickly, but companies have been allowed to unilaterally force customers into arbitration, stripping them of their 7th amendment rights.
Some notable examples include:
Disney, who argued that a man named Jeffrey Piccolo was not allowed to sue them for killing his wife in 2024 (their restaurant ignored her repeated allergen requests) on the grounds that he had agreed to the arbitration clause in the Disney Plus terms of service. After much public backlash, Disney decided to allow the lawsuit to proceed in court, but this was simply because Disney didn’t technically own the restaurant, so Disney believed they could win on the merits of the case. However, the fact that Disney could theoretically circumvent a jury trial for wrongful death is unconscionable, and it needs to be remedied immediately.
Roku, who had a massive data breach in March 2024, and then they updated their terms of service to include an arbitration agreement, preventing users from suing them. Shortly afterward, Roku had a second massive data breach in April 2024. Even if you owned an older Roku device that you bought years prior, with no ongoing Roku services, Roku forced you to agree to their new terms by remotely blanking out the screens of all Roku devices until their owners pressed the “agree” button. Ass covering at its finest.
Other examples as of 2026 include:
- eBay
- Glassdoor
- Microsoft
- DoorDash
- AT&T
- AllTrails
- Walgreens
- Coffee Meets Bagel
- Pathward, N.A.
- Discord
- Sony
- Match.com
- Ebay
- Walgreens
- Etsy
- New York Times
- Glassdoor
- LiveNation
- Microsoft
- AllTrails
- Babbel
- Samsung
- AT&T
- Harbor Freight
- Tire Rack
- Imgur
- DoorDash
- Razer
- OpenAI
- DigiKey
- Ticketmaster
- Hinge