This analysis describes what Google'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
Users are barred from attempting to uncover Google's proprietary methods or technology through reverse engineering, with a narrow exception for what applicable law permits.
Interpretive note: The excerpt is a noun phrase without surrounding sentence structure. The canonical claim treats it as a prohibition consistent with the clause name and type. The exception for applicable law is noted in omitted_material but is incorporated into the canonical claim as a qualifier per the fidelity rule.
The updated terms establish that Google provides its services 'as is' without any express or implied warranties, replacing the prior commitment to provide services 'using reasonable skill and care.' This means users cannot rely on contractual warranty protections if services fail or perform poorly. Additionally, the revised language removes the requirement that Google hold a 'reasonable belief' before removing user content; the terms now permit removal if content 'could harm' Google, users, or third parties. The terms also restructure liability limitations, removing prior carve-outs for fraud and negligence while establishing a $200 minimum liability floor, which may limit recovery for damages in certain circumstances.
View change record →The updated terms establish that Google will provide its services 'using reasonable skill and care,' a warranty that did not appear in prior language. Under the revised terms, if Google does not meet this quality standard, users are required to notify Google and the parties will attempt to resolve the issue through direct communication. Liability caps increased from $200 to US$500 or 125% of fees paid in the prior 12 months, whichever is greater. The updated terms also add a 'reasonable belief' standard before Google removes user content, requiring Google to reasonably believe content breaches terms, violates law, or could cause harm before removal, except where doing so would cause harm, violate law, or compromise investigations or service integrity.
View change record →The updated terms eliminate Google's warranty that services are provided with 'reasonable skill and care' and instead state that services are provided 'as is' without express or implied warranties. Liability is capped at the greater of $200 or fees paid in the preceding 12 months, and Google is no longer liable for losses arising from negligence or fraud. The terms also remove the requirement that Google 'reasonably believe' a violation occurred before removing user content, shifting from a belief-based standard to a direct assertion-based standard. These changes substantially limit the legal remedies available to users in case of service failures, data loss, or content removal disputes.
View change record →You are prohibited from reverse engineering Google's services or technology, such as its machine learning models, to extract trade secrets or proprietary information, unless applicable law specifically allows it.
How other platforms handle this
Customer may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the output generated using an NVIDIA proprietary software development kit (e.g., NVIDIA CUDA toolkit), including their development tools and compilers.
You agree not to modify, display, adapt, translate, loan, distribute, prepare derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive source code from the Software.
use the Application Services in a manner that overburdens, or that threatens the integrity, performance, or availability of, the Application Services
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"reverse engineering our services or underlying technology, such as our machine learning models, to extract trade secrets or other proprietary information, except as allowed by applicable law— Excerpt from Google's Google Terms of Service
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Users are barred from attempting to uncover Google's proprietary methods or technology through reverse engineering, with a narrow exception for what applicable law permits.
You are prohibited from reverse engineering Google's services or technology, such as its machine learning models, to extract trade secrets or proprietary information, unless applicable law specifically allows it.
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