April 18, 2014--Forced Arbitration

Now there is another reason not to "tell" Facebook that you "like" something.

I visit Facebook less and less frequently as more and more advertisements show up on my Facebook page. For example--I have a cousin, who shall remain nameless, who has serious reservations about capitalism. And I am speaking euphemistically. He is way beyond Progressive. But his Facebook postings (don't ask me why he is a member of Facebook--no one is without contradictions) is filling up with ads.

Next to his posting warning about the military-industrial complex and another relishing the fact that Comcast was voted the 2014 "worst company in America," popping up are ads for the iPhone 6 and Tim's Cascade Style Hot Jalapeño Seasoned Potato Chips.

So much for Facebook serving as a forum for progressive discourse or for my cousin's eating habits.

But there is more.

As reported in yesterday's New York Times, companies such as General Mills and Kellogg's are attempting to use consumers' "likes" as a way of disallowing potential plaintiffs from suing the company for damages. So, if a box of, say, Raisin Bran, contains broken glass, the person eating a bowl with as much glass as raisins by this sleight-of hand logic would be forced to participate in arbitration rather than being able to take their claim for damages to the courts.

This would pertain to anyone telling Facebook that they "like" Raisin Bran but also to anyone who downloaded a discount coupon or entered a company-organized sweepstakes or contest.

The claim is that if you participate in any of these things you are deriving a "benefit" and as such are holding Kellogg's, in this instance, legally harmless.

If this sounds outrageous--that by doing something as innocuous as using a discount coupon you are in effect assigning away your right to sue--it is derived from a number of under-the-radar Supreme Court decisions that are a part of a spate of SCOTUS rulings that hold corporations less accountable to the public.

According to Julia Duncan, director of federal programs at the American Association for Justice, a trade groups representing plaintiff trial lawyers, "It's essentially trying to protect the company from all accountability, even when it lies, or say, an employee deliberately adds broken glass to a product."

My advice--read the fine print, cancel your Facebook membership, and eat granola.