143. Douez v Facebook: What Are We Consenting To? (with Prof. Angela Swan)

The advent of big-tech corporations and mass-produced “Terms of Service” agreements raises important, but disturbing, questions about the notion of meaningful consent in contractual relationships. It is a given that the overwhelming majority of consumers do not even read the contracts to which they must agree if they wish to use products or access services. To what, then, are they consenting?

In today's episode, we are joined by Professor Angela Swan of Osgoode Hall Law School to explore this question. Prof. Swan speaks with host Ali Mesbahian about the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Douez v Facebook, in which a British Columbian resident sued Facebook on the grounds that the company violated her privacy rights by extracting her information and selling it to advertisers. What happened next? Listen to the episode and find out!