Policy length for a variety of digital services was measured by collecting the complete terms of service (TOS) and the complete privacy policy (PP) for each organization and conducting a word count. The word total was determined by combining word counts for both the TOS and PP.

Policy Length and the Biggest Lie on the Internet

A long policy may be challenging for users to read due to the time commitment, especially when there are multiple policies to read. This could contribute to the biggest lie because people will click agree without taking the time to read everything.

A policy that is too short may leave out important details, and might also contribute to the biggest lie because people will click agree potentially having read the policy, but without having all relevant details. People might also click agree to shorter policies without accessing or reading them.

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