Zero Stars

Imagine you are a consumer who purchases an item online, but the product isn't what you bargained for. Because you don't want other consumers to waste their time or money, you take to social media to post an honest account of your experience. You are then aggressively approached by the company that sold you the substandard product and threatened with a stiff penalty unless you immediately take down the critical review. Buried in the fine print of the website's terms and conditions was an anti-consumer clause forbidding you from posting a negative review about the company. This scenario sounds farfetched, but the sad reality is that it is happening every day across the country. So-called non-disparagement or gag clauses are being forced on consumers and then being used to intimidate them. These gag provisions are egregious from a consumer protection standpoint, but they are also doing harm to the Internet ecosystem. A core tenet of the Internet is the ability to freely share information with whomever you like. What good is information if it has been sanitized to remove truthful criticism?