Film
Terms and Conditions May Apply
A brisk, alarming tour of what you've legally agreed to without reading. The film dissects the fine print behind every digital service—what corporations extract, how they use it, and why you should care. It's funny until it isn't. Essential viewing for anyone with a phone, a social media account, or a vague sense that something's being sold.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy sharp, argumentative essay documentaries that turn a dull legal document into a lively case against the companies behind it.
Skip it if you already feel well-versed in data collection and dread hearing the alarm bells again, since it leans on talking heads and a steady, familiar pitch.
What it asks of you: A brisk 79 minutes, mostly talking heads and on-screen legalese, so it rewards steady attention over visual flair; brief, talky and idea-driven rather than sensational.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Great Hack2019
Traces the Cambridge Analytica scandal through personal stories, showing exactly how data harvesting became manipulation. Expands on the corporate malfeasance that Terms and Conditions warns about, with real political consequences.
But The narrative gets tangled across multiple timelines and viewpoints. Some stretches feel like speculation dressed as fact.
Citizenfour2014
Snowden's NSA revelations proved that government mass surveillance was real, not paranoia. A companion piece that confirms the stakes of what Terms and Conditions suggests they're tracking.
But Heavy, slow-burn documentary about classified material. No resolution, just the beginning of a much bigger story.
The Social Dilemma2020
Ex-Silicon Valley engineers and designers explain how platforms deliberately addict users and manipulate behavior. Direct conversation with the architects of the systems Terms and Conditions describes.
But The dramatized sequences are clumsy and the lecture-heavy middle drags. Oversimplifies complex systems into a morality tale.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Terms and Conditions May Apply
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Chungking Express1994
Both films are about what we leave behind—data trails versus physical traces. Wong's film treats the accidental intimacy of proximity with wonder. Terms and Conditions shows that same inevitability with horror. Different registers, same subject: you cannot hide.
Wong Kar-wai's twin-narrative romance set in a dense Hong Kong city where strangers constantly intersect. The visual overload and information crush mirror digital overwhelm, but it's love and beauty, not dread.
But Oblique, poetic, more interested in mood than plot. Some will find it frustratingly slow and vague.
More like this (7)
HyperNormalisation2016
Adam Curtis's essay on how we've accepted increasingly surreal and corrupt systems as normal. Thematically aligned—the slow surrender of privacy as cultural inevitability.
But Digressive, associative style. Makes wild conceptual leaps that don't always land. Demands active engagement rather than passive viewing.
Nothing to Hide2017
Focused interrogation of the surveillance-privacy paradox. Interviewees argue both sides of why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide.
But German documentary, more philosophical than visceral. No dramatic reveals or villains, just sustained ethical argument.
The China Syndrome1979
A thriller about what happens when institutions hide dangerous truths from the public. The paranoia feels quaint now, but the DNA is identical to modern corporate secrecy.
But A 40-year-old political thriller. The urgency has aged into historical curiosity rather than immediate dread.
Our Brand Is Crisis2015
Sees American political consulting exported to Bolivia, where the machinery of manipulation becomes obvious because it's unfamiliar. Shows how your data becomes ammunition.
But Despite strong performances, the film undercuts its own critique. Ends somewhat confused about what it thinks about any of this.
Fake Famous2021
An influencer from scratch using algorithmic gaming and purchased followers. A hands-on experiment in how the social media apparatus actually works behind the curtain.
But Slight. More of a thought experiment than sustained investigation. Leaves you wanting deeper analysis.
They Call Me Magic2022
Magic's loss of privacy in the 1980s—through media, then through his HIV diagnosis—prefigures our current condition. He lived the trade-off between celebrity and autonomy that Terms and Conditions says you've now all agreed to. It's the same bargain, scaled infinitely.
A five-part series on Earvin Johnson's life, shot in intimate documentary style. Examines fame, privacy, and the price of being a public figure before social media made it the default for everyone.
But Sports documentary. If basketball doesn't interest you, the broader themes won't rescue it. Hagiographic in places.
The Lives of Others2006
Terms and Conditions describes the apparatus of total surveillance. The Lives of Others shows what it does to the watcher and the watched. One is systemic; the other is human. Together they're complete.
A Stasi agent in Cold War Berlin gradually sees the humanity of those he spies on, until surveillance and conscience collide. Exquisite moral thriller about the cost of complete information.
But German language film. Slow, introspective, and the surveillance is conducted by hand—no algorithm, no scale. Can feel like a period piece rather than a warning.
People
Cast
Mark ZuckerbergSelf
MobySelf- Leigh BryanSelf
- Raymond KurzweilSelf
- Joe LipariSelf
Max SchremsSelf- Christopher ShinSelf
Julian AssangeSelf (archive footage)
Edward SnowdenSelf (archive footage)
Rupert MurdochSelf (archive footage)
Barack ObamaSelf (archive footage)
John KerrySelf (archive footage)
Directing
- Cullen HobackDirector
Writing
- Cullen HobackWriter
Recommended by
The Social Dilemma, We Live in Public, Downloaded, RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, CamGirls, Nothing to Hide, Do Not Track, Print the Legend