Coursera Terms of Use

This is Coursera's Terms of Use — the legal contract you agree to when you create an account or take any course on the Coursera platform. The most important thing to know is that by posting anything on Coursera, such as forum posts or assignments, you give Coursera a permanent, royalty-free license to use that content even after you close your account, and you waive your right to sue Coursera in court as part of a class action. If you have a dispute with Coursera, you should be aware that you may have a limited window (often 30 days) to opt out of mandatory arbitration after agreeing to the terms.

This document is Coursera's Terms of Use, governing the contractual relationship between Coursera, Inc. and users of its online learning platform, including courses, certificates, and degree programs, on the basis of acceptance-by-use. The most significant obligations include users granting Coursera a broad, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, and distribute any content they post, and Coursera's right to terminate accounts at its sole discretion with or without cause. Notable deviations from industry standard include a mandatory binding arbitration clause with class action waiver that limits users' ability to pursue collective legal remedies, and a broad intellectual property license over user-generated content that survives account termination. The document engages FERPA (as Coursera processes student educational records on behalf of institutional partners), COPPA (minimum age of 13 enforced), CCPA (California residents retain data rights), and GDPR (for EU users processed under Coursera's privacy framework); material compliance considerations include the enforceability of the arbitration clause under state consumer protection statutes and the adequacy of FERPA-compliant data processing agreements with institutional partners. The FTC maintains primary enforcement authority over unfair or deceptive practices in Coursera's consumer-facing terms, while the DOE oversees FERPA compliance for institutional learners.