terms of service

plural noun

: the legal terms (see term entry 1 sense 4) that set forth the nature, scope, and limits of a service (such as one offered through a website or an app) and the rules that the service's users must agree to follow

… Twitter users' complaints alerted the company that three of his messages violated the terms of service …

—Jake Tapper

… most people have no idea what is signed away when they click "agree" to binding terms of service contracts—again and again on phones, laptops, tablets, watches, e-readers and televisions.

—The New York Times

—abbreviation TOS

Examples of terms of service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While Apple’s App Store review process creates an illusion of perfect security, malware and apps that violate Apple’s terms of service can and do still slip through or exploit zero-days. —Zak Doffman, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024

Most recently, Tate was banned from Bluesky for violating its terms of service less than a day after joining. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024

While that’s not unusual for a social media platform’s terms of service, technology companies usually enforce those terms quietly and do not step in to public court battles, said Eric Goldman, an associate dean and professor of tech law at Santa Clara University School of Law. —Hadas Gold, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024

In an objection filed Monday, X said its terms of service prevent Jones’s X accounts from being sold off without the company’s approval. —Lauren Irwin, The Hill, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above