If someone sues Fastly because of something you did with the service or content you ran through it, you are required to pay for Fastly's legal defense and any resulting damages.
This analysis describes what Fastly's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision transfers substantial legal and financial risk to the customer, potentially making the customer responsible for Fastly's litigation costs in disputes that arise from the customer's operations or content.
Business customers are contractually obligated to cover Fastly's legal costs and losses arising from how they use the service, which could result in significant unexpected legal expenses if a third party brings a claim related to the customer's content or activity.
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"You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Fastly and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and successors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your use of the Services, your Customer Content, or your violation of these Terms.— Excerpt from Fastly's Fastly Terms of Service
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Broad customer indemnification clauses are common in commercial infrastructure agreements and are generally enforceable under California law. However, the scope of this indemnification, covering all claims arising from customer use or content, is broad and may interact with insurance coverage terms, upstream vendor agreements, and regulated industry obligations. Where Fastly processes personal data, data breach-related claims could implicate GDPR or CCPA enforcement and litigation, with indemnification scope potentially covering resulting Fastly defense costs. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High. The indemnification obligation is broad in scope, covering not only clear legal violations but any claim arising from customer use or content. For customers operating in content-heavy, user-generated content, or media distribution contexts, this creates material litigation risk exposure. The inclusion of attorneys' fees amplifies the financial risk. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU member state courts may not enforce indemnification clauses as written where they conflict with mandatory consumer or business protection rules. California law governs, but customers with EU operations should assess whether the indemnification scope is compatible with local law requirements. Customers in regulated industries such as financial services or healthcare may face restrictions on the scope of indemnification they can contractually accept. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Procurement and legal teams should evaluate whether the indemnification scope can be negotiated to be limited to willful misconduct or gross negligence by the customer, and whether mutual indemnification provisions can be introduced. The clause as stated does not appear to be mutual, which is a notable asymmetry relative to some enterprise cloud agreements. Insurance teams should confirm that the customer's commercial general liability and errors and omissions policies cover this indemnification exposure. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should map the indemnification obligations to the customer's insurance coverage and risk management framework. Contracts with downstream customers should be reviewed to ensure the customer can pass through or allocate indemnification risk appropriately. Organizations with significant user-generated content or third-party integrations running through Fastly face elevated exposure under this clause.
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This provision transfers substantial legal and financial risk to the customer, potentially making the customer responsible for Fastly's litigation costs in disputes that arise from the customer's operations or content.
Business customers are contractually obligated to cover Fastly's legal costs and losses arising from how they use the service, which could result in significant unexpected legal expenses if a third party brings a claim related to the customer's content or activity.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 12 platforms. See the full comparison.
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