Coursera's Terms Heavily Favor the Company

Coursera is an online learning platform offering courses from universities and institutions worldwide. We read their terms. Here's what they're not leading with.

You don't get to sue them the normal way. An arbitration clause strips your right to join a class action lawsuit or go to trial with a jury. Any grievance goes to private arbitration instead.

They can cancel or change any course whenever they want. No notice period specified. You enrolled. They decide it's gone. Your money situation is your problem.

Coursera owns your submissions forever. Any assignment, project, or content you upload gets a perpetual, worldwide license assigned to them. They can use it without asking again.

Your certificate might be worthless outside Coursera's walls. The platform grants no academic credit by itself. Only if the institution offering the course explicitly recognizes your completion does it count toward anything official. Check first.

You do keep ownership of what you create. Your original intellectual property stays yours. It's the only thing in your favor here.

Grade D says it all. The arbitration clause and their unilateral power to kill courses are the real problems.

This breakdown is based on Coursera's publicly available Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy. It may contain mistakes. Spot one? Let us know.