Yes, Roku is forcing users to agree to new terms to continue using their TVs

Roku is the most popular smart TV operating system in the United States with 73.5 million active accounts as of mid-2023. 

Many Roku customers have gone to Roku’s online forums over the past few weeks to complain about a notice of a change in the company’s dispute resolution terms that won’t let people use their televisions until they’ve agreed to the terms.

Multiple VERIFY readers have reached out to ask if Roku is preventing people from using their televisions unless they agree to the new terms.

THE QUESTION

Is Roku forcing users to agree to new terms to continue using their TVs?

THE SOURCES

• Roku Terms and Conditions
• Roku spokesperson
• Consumer Reports

THE ANSWER

Yes, Roku is forcing users to agree to new terms to continue using their TVs. However, you do have a window to opt out and continue using your TV after you initially agree.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Roku customers are required to agree to the company’s updated dispute resolution terms to keep using their TV. However, customers still have 30 days to opt out of those terms after initially agreeing with them and can keep using their TVs after doing so.

When the notification pops up onto a Roku TV screen, customers are only given the option to agree. You cannot navigate your smart TV’s menus while the notification is on-screen and you can’t make it go away without agreeing.

Once the notice appears on their TV screen, customers have to agree before they can continue using their TV, a Roku spokesperson told VERIFY in an email. However, those customers can still opt out of the terms by writing a letter to the company.

The terms customers must agree to are Roku’s updated dispute resolution terms. Prior to the update, Roku’s terms prohibited its customers from settling claims against Roku in court, therefore prohibiting any class actions against Roku.

The new terms, on top of continuing to prohibit class actions, also make it more difficult for customers to force Roku to settle through mass arbitration, a strategy used by some law firms to make companies settle even if their terms prohibit class action lawsuits. Roku’s terms limit the number of mass arbitration claims it has to actually argue before an arbitrator and delays the mass arbitration process as a whole.

At the bottom of Roku’s new terms, it explains that customers have a 30-day window to opt out of these rules and continue using Roku’s products. A customer must send Roku a letter to the following address with the following information:

• Address: General Counsel, Roku Inc., 1701 Junction Court, Suite 100, San Jose, CA 95112

• Notice should include: Name and contact of each person opting out; specific product models, services or software at issue; email address that you used to set up your Roku account (if you have one); and a copy of your purchase receipt, if applicable.

Opt-out notices sent by any method other than mail will not be effective. You cannot opt out via email.

The 30 day window does not start once you agree to the terms on your TV. Roku’s terms says it begins once the customer becomes “subject to the terms.” This would mean the window starts when the customer received an email notification about the new terms, which most customers received prior to getting the TV notice, according to Consumer Reports.