Fteja v. Facebook

In Fteja v. Facebook (841 F Supp 2d 829, 2012 WL 183896 [SD NY 2012]), the court enforced a forum selection provision where the "sign-up" page for a Facebook account provided: "By clicking Sign Up, you are indicating that you have read and agree to the Terms of Service." Through a hyperlink, clicking on "Terms of Service" sends users to a different page, which includes a forum selection clause requiring the resolution of "any claim" in Santa Clara County, California (id.). Although the Web site did not contain any mechanism forcing the user to actually examine the terms before assenting, the critical inquiry was whether the terms had been "reasonably communicated" to the user. In concluding that the "terms of service" had been reasonably communicated, the court held that "clicking the hyperlinked phrase is the twenty-first century equivalent of turning over the Carnival Cruise Lines cruise ticket" The basic principles of contract law remained the same. By clicking the "Sign-Up" button, plaintiff assented to the "terms of use" that were reasonably communicated to him. Therefore, under contract law principles, plaintiff assented to the forum selection clause on the Web site.