Social media platforms typically obtain user consent through Terms of Service (ToS) presented at account creation, rather than through dedicated consent forms. This study investigates whether consent-related information is clearly communicated within these ToS documents. We propose and apply a three-dimensional consent evaluation framework encompassing Textual Accessibility, Semantic Transparency, and Interface Design as declared in ToS documents. Using a combination of computational and qualitative analyses, we assess ToS from 13 major social media platforms. Our findings reveal important shortcomings across platforms, including high linguistic complexity, widespread use of non-committal language, limited disclosure of data retention and sharing practices, and the absence of explicit interface-level commitments to granular or revocable consent. These results indicate that while consent is formally embedded in ToS, it is often presented in ways that constrain clarity and meaningful choice. Rather than treating ToS documents as informed consent instruments, this study positions them as consent-bearing documents whose design and content shape the conditions under which users are asked to agree to data practices. The proposed framework offers a systematic method for evaluating consent information within ToS in the absence of explicit consent forms and informs the design of clearer, more ethically robust consent mechanisms for data-intensive digital platforms.

翻译：社交媒体平台通常在账户创建时通过展示服务条款（ToS）而非专门的同意表单来获取用户同意。本研究调查了这些ToS文件中与同意相关的信息是否得到清晰传达。我们提出并应用了一个三维同意评估框架，涵盖ToS文件所声明的文本可访问性、语义透明度和界面设计。通过结合计算分析与定性分析，我们对13个主要社交媒体平台的ToS进行了评估。研究结果揭示了各平台存在的重要缺陷，包括语言复杂度高、普遍使用非承诺性语言、数据保留与共享实践披露有限，以及缺乏对细粒度或可撤销同意的明确界面层级承诺。这些结果表明，虽然同意在形式上嵌入于ToS中，但其呈现方式往往限制了清晰度和有意义的选择。本研究并未将ToS文件视为知情同意工具，而是将其定位为承载同意功能的文件，其设计与内容塑造了用户被要求同意数据实践的条件。所提出的框架为在缺乏明确同意表单的情况下评估ToS内的同意信息提供了系统方法，并为数据密集型数字平台设计更清晰、伦理更健全的同意机制提供了参考。