cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/17618684
Forced arbitration means any legal disputes you may have with Discord must be resolved through a single third party mediator, who 99% of the time is chosen by, and will rule in favor of, the corporation/Discord. This effectively removes all your legal rights as a consumer, because arbitration decisions are legally binding and non-appealable.
The new ToS goes into effect April 15th, 2024.
YOU CAN OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION. You must email arbitration-opt-out@discord.com BEFORE MAY 15TH (30 days after ToS effective date) with your username stating that you wish to opt out of the arbitration clause. Once May 15th passes you are bound to arbitration with Discord forever.
Opt-out before it’s too late.
It has to be noted that this applies to US citizens. For EU citizens the arbitration rules do not apply (that at least is how I read the ToS). Instead, they get an EU body that handles disputes:
European countries don’t really have class action suits, issues are usually resolved through all kinds of government agencies and without court involvement. Why bother with court when The Consumer Ombudsman in the UK can fuck any company sideways in a fraction of time and for free?
You mean they don’t get their $0.55 check in the mail when some lawyer successfully sues a company on their behalf and walks out with $50M?
Gee, that’s truly a loss.
Suits can also set legal precedents that the company (and others!) may need to follow. Yeah the settlement is typically ass but grounds to sue again for continued bad behavior can’t get ruled on by an actual court of law during arbitration.
In other words, this is actual class warfare against customers.
What the means actually? Does that mean I sent an email to ODR/OCDS to opt-out or suggesting instead of suing them, submit a complaint to ODR/OCDS?
To my knowledge, you don’t need to opt out of anything.