When you submit any content to Waze — including map edits, reports, photos, or comments — you grant Waze a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, modify, distribute, and commercialize that content in any way, forever.
This analysis describes what Waze'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
The provision establishes that user-submitted content becomes available for use by the platform and its user base in perpetuity without compensation. This authorization permits Waze to incorporate user contributions into service operations, derivative products, and third-party arrangements without ongoing user consent or approval.
The updated Terms now establish that you are binding yourself not only to the main Terms of Use but also to Waze's Content Moderation Policy, Community Terms, and Copyright Policy as integral parts of the agreement. This expands the set of rules you must comply with when using the Service. The revised terms also clarify that the Service is intended for users of legal driving age and explicitly describe Waze's advertising model: the Service is free because advertising revenue funds operations, and Waze uses your data to show you targeted ads, with controls available to manage ad personalization preferences.
View change record →Users permanently lose exclusive control over any content they submit to Waze, which may be used commercially without compensation. This includes community map edits, hazard reports, and reviews.
How other platforms handle this
Where the law allows us to, we may use the content you and other users have posted for training or to help us to improve the way we filter content on our platform.
We may infer certain information from your interactions with the Lyft Platform and other personal information available to us. For example, if you frequently ride to or from airports, we may infer you are a frequent traveler.
In accordance with applicable legal requirements, we may use your information to tailor and provide you with content and advertisements.
"By submitting Content to Waze, you hereby grant Waze and the users of the Service an irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licenseable and transferable license to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works, display in public and publicly perform the Content.Excerpt from Waze's Terms of Use
The irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free license over user-generated content raises IP ownership and GDPR-related consent concerns, particularly regarding content that may constitute personal data under Article 4 GDPR.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
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The provision establishes that user-submitted content becomes available for use by the platform and its user base in perpetuity without compensation. This authorization permits Waze to incorporate user contributions into service operations, derivative products, and third-party arrangements without ongoing user consent or approval.
Users permanently lose exclusive control over any content they submit to Waze, which may be used commercially without compensation. This includes community map edits, hazard reports, and reviews.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 279 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Waze.