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Contract trap · Terms of service

Termination at will

The provider may suspend or terminate your account, membership or access at its sole discretion, for any or no reason, without notice, explanation, appeal or liability, delete your content and keep prepaid fees.

Severity
Severe
How often it turns up
Common
Holds up?
Depends where you are
Clause phrases
24

What it looks like in a contract

Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.

In English-language contracts

  • we may suspend or terminate your account at any time
  • restrict or cancel your Account at any time
  • for any reason or no reason
  • with or without notice
  • at our sole discretion
  • without liability to you
  • we are under no obligation to provide a reason
  • we may delete your content upon termination
  • you will not be entitled to any refund
  • if your account is inactive for
  • we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone
  • forfeit any prepaid fees

In Russian-language contracts

  • вправе заблокировать или удалить учетную запись без объяснения причин
  • может временно или навсегда лишить Вас доступа к сервисам или удалить Ваш аккаунт
  • может ликвидировать ваш Аккаунт в любое время
  • в любое время по своему усмотрению
  • без предварительного уведомления
  • в одностороннем внесудебном порядке отказаться от исполнения Соглашения
  • удалить любой Контент Пользователя
  • не вправе рассчитывать на какое бы то ни было возмещение
  • в случае неактивности аккаунта более
  • исполнитель вправе в одностороннем порядке отказаться от исполнения договора
  • без возврата уплаченных денежных средств
  • клуб вправе аннулировать клубную карту

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Why it bites

Years of email, photos, ad accounts, storefronts or game libraries vanish on an automated ban with no human review; for sellers and SMBs it is existential; the consumer stays locked in with ETFs while the provider walks away and keeps the money.

Is it enforceable where you are

The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.

In the EU, platform terms are covered by Directive 93/13, the Digital Content Directive 2019/770 and DSA Art 14; in the US, ROSCA and FTC Act §5 apply to consumer sign-ups, and browsewrap acceptance turns on notice.

United States

Enforceable as licence terms; §230(c)(2) shields moderation; FTC v. Epic Games (2022) order bars locking accounts of consumers who dispute charges; forfeiting prepaid fees without cause can be unfair under Sec. 5/state UDAP; gym statutes require refunds on club closure.

  • Cited
  • FTC v. Epic Games
  • UDAP

European Union

93/13 Annex (d),(f),(g) — retaining prepaid sums, discretionary dissolution or termination of open-ended contracts without reasonable notice is unfair; DSA Arts 17, 20, 21; P2B Reg 2019/1150 Art 4 (reasons, 30 days' notice); Digital Content Directive termination/refund rules.

  • Cited
  • 93/13 Annex (d)
  • DSA Arts 17, 20, 21
  • Reg 2019/1150

United Kingdom

CRA 2015 Sch 2 paras 4, 7-8; CMA cloud-storage undertakings 2016-17 (notice before termination, data-retrieval periods); CMA37 requires reasonable notice and refund of unexpired prepaid periods.

  • Cited
  • CMA
  • CMA37
  • CRA 2015 Sch 2 paras 4

Russia

ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1, 8 ЗоЗПП — односторонний отказ исполнителя и дополнительные основания расторжения ничтожны; ст. 310, 782 ГК; ФАС — предупреждения Wildberries и Ozon (2024) о немотивированных блокировках; 289-ФЗ «О платформенной экономике» (с 1 октября 2026) — уведомление и обжалование.

  • Cited
  • 289-ФЗ
  • ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1
  • ст. 310

Where this has actually happened

Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.

  • Google Terms of Use — 'at will' deletion clauses struck by LG Berlin 2013 / KG Berlin 2019 (vzbv)
  • FTC v. Epic Games (Fortnite), Dec 2022 — order bars locking accounts of players who dispute charges
  • ФАС предупреждение Wildberries, 09.04.2024 — блокировки и санкции без прозрачных оснований
  • Spotify Terms of Use — Spotify may terminate with 14 days' notice

What to do

In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.

  1. Keep regular exports and your own domain for email
  2. Keep alternative sales channels
  3. EU: demand a statement of reasons (DSA Art 17), use the internal complaint system (Art 20) and out-of-court bodies (Art 21)
  4. Business users: P2B 30-day notice and reasons
  5. RU: условие об одностороннем отказе ничтожно (ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1, 8 ЗоЗПП
  6. Ст. 782 ГК) — требуйте возврат за неиспользованный период, жалоба в Роспотребнадзор/ФАС.

Check your own document

Traps that travel with it

Drafters who use one of these usually use several.

79 traps · 1789 verbatim clause phrases