Are those user agreements even legally binding in most countries? They aren’t in my country since you aren’t signing them, pressing agree doesn’t count.
They are not a contract by themselves but they can absolutely be used to specify the details of the main contract the customer is about to enter, for example by buying something in an online shop, etc. and that contract is then in its entirety binding (assuming no laws are broken etc).
A contract can even be entered by nodding - if your baker and you know that you come for one loaf of bread every day and both you and they nod when you enter the store, that can be a legal agreement. Pressing agree to agree to the additional clauses of the base contract offered by the company can be as binding as pressing the button to buy stuff from amazon, which is to say potentially very much binding, unless any laws are broken.
Depends on your local laws. Verbal contracts exist here but they are unenforcable without a 3th party witness and even then very limited and only used for the simplest and most immediate exchanges. Buying and selling is kind of a contract but only handled in courts if it’s between individuals, if a company is involved then it’s the consumer protection laws and agency that handles that. Most obligations and privileges from buying and selling are handled by local law instead of a contract. But contracts on the Internet are only legally binding if you digitally sign it here, an agree button or even a normal signature isn’t binding here for that. Our government IDs allow for online signatures with cryptographic keys unique to each person, that’s the only legally binding online signature here.
A TOS can only be used to enforce your behaviour on that platform, anything beyond that is not enforceable here.
Are those user agreements even legally binding in most countries? They aren’t in my country since you aren’t signing them, pressing agree doesn’t count.
As far as I know it’s not legally binding pretty much anywhere. They’re not legal contracts because they don’t fulfill the requirements of one.
They are not a contract by themselves but they can absolutely be used to specify the details of the main contract the customer is about to enter, for example by buying something in an online shop, etc. and that contract is then in its entirety binding (assuming no laws are broken etc).
A contract can even be entered by nodding - if your baker and you know that you come for one loaf of bread every day and both you and they nod when you enter the store, that can be a legal agreement. Pressing agree to agree to the additional clauses of the base contract offered by the company can be as binding as pressing the button to buy stuff from amazon, which is to say potentially very much binding, unless any laws are broken.
Depends on your local laws. Verbal contracts exist here but they are unenforcable without a 3th party witness and even then very limited and only used for the simplest and most immediate exchanges. Buying and selling is kind of a contract but only handled in courts if it’s between individuals, if a company is involved then it’s the consumer protection laws and agency that handles that. Most obligations and privileges from buying and selling are handled by local law instead of a contract. But contracts on the Internet are only legally binding if you digitally sign it here, an agree button or even a normal signature isn’t binding here for that. Our government IDs allow for online signatures with cryptographic keys unique to each person, that’s the only legally binding online signature here.
A TOS can only be used to enforce your behaviour on that platform, anything beyond that is not enforceable here.