Strident call for social networks to simplify 'impenetrable' terms of service

The British Parliament has instructed social networking sites like, Facebook and Twitter to make their terms and conditions easier to read.

Terming the contract "more complex than Shakespeare" and "totally impenetrable," a report prepared by the Commons Science and Technology Committee said that the format that is currently favoured by many organizations is too lengthy and full of jargons, reported Sky News.

The report said that the "opaque, literary style" of such contracts defeat the organisation's intent of processing data to users.

While Facebook's terms and conditions run up to 20,000 words and would take up to one hour and 45 minutes to read, Google's contract runs to eight A4 pages and Twitter's terms of service is 3,500-words long.

The report recommended government to create "information standards" for these companies to sign up to.

The Information Commissioner's Office would take the lead while the tech industry would be asked to "come forward with proposals to simplify their contracts," the report said.