Is X (Twitter)'s Terms of Service safe?

Top concerning points

1. 1.

   Content you post may be edited by the service for any reason

   blocker

   High

   This service can edit any content on the service for whatever the reason and at their sole discretion.

2. 2.

   Specific content can be deleted without reason and may be removed without prior notice

   blocker

   High

   This service can delete specific content. Usually they will claim they reserve the right to do it at their sole discretion, which is legalese for saying they won't give a specific reason. If the terms say they will not notify you, it shall be included in the quote but if it does not explicitly say they will give you a notice, it can be reasonably inferred that they can do it without telling you.

3. 3.

   Private messages can be read

   blocker

   High

   The Service is able to access, scan, review or read all user communications, including private messages, which may contain personal or sensitive data.

4. 4.

   They store data on you even if you did not interact with the service

   blocker

   High

   Some services store data on you even if you did not provide that data yourself. For example, users might provide access to their address book, after which a service might also store the phone numbers of that person's contacts.

5. 5.

   Your personal data is used for automated decision-making, profiling or AI training

   blocker

   High

   Personal data or content you share with the service may be processed to make decisions by automated means without human involvement. This includes profiling, which is any form of automated processing of your information to analyse or predict things like your economic situation, health, personal preferences or interests; as well as Artificial Intelligence training.

6. 6.

   The service is only available in some countries approved by its government

   bad

   High

   Countries under embargo or banned by the government of the country in question cannot use the service.

7. 7.

   Your content can be licensed to third parties

   bad

   High

   By posting content through the Services, users grant them a transferable and/or sublicensable right, which allows user content to be licensed to third parties.

8. 8.

   Your personal data may be disclosed to comply with government requests without notice to you

   bad

   High

   If the Government governing the Terms requests personal data of a user of this service, they may not inform/notify the user while complying with the request.

Frequently asked questions

What is X (Twitter)'s ToS;DR privacy grade?

ToS;DR rates X (Twitter) as Grade E. Grades range from A (best) to E (worst). See the full breakdown on ToS;DR.

Is X (Twitter)'s Terms of Service safe?

ToS;DR's Grade E means the terms raise serious concerns. Read the blocker and bad points carefully before accepting.

What is a top concern in X (Twitter)'s terms?

Content you post may be edited by the service for any reason — This service can edit any content on the service for whatever the reason and at their sole discretion. (Source: ToS;DR approved point).

Where can I read X (Twitter)'s official terms?

ToS;DR tracks "Terms of Service" at https://x.com/en/tos. Always prefer the official document over summaries.