General Mills Limits Legal Recourse If Customers Engage The Brand In Social Media Or Email

You might want to be careful with that next "Like" on Facebook, because as it appears, companies can use that to their advantage in the event a lawsuit is filed against them. In General Mills' updated legal terms, the company totally backs consumers into a corner if they follow the company on social media, use its digital coupons, subscribe to its newsletters, and et cetera. Basically: Ignore General Mills' online presence entirely, and you may still have the right to sue the company.

In the event that you fall victim to one of General Mills' gotchas, your only option would be to settle through arbitration, and avoid the courts entirely.

Clearly, this is not a great move for consumers, and it adds General Mills to the growing lists of companies that will do anything to avoid a lawsuit. You might recall that back in 2011, after Sony's major PlayStation Network debacle, it updated its terms-of-service to avoid class-action lawsuits as well.

Here's some good news: You can disagree to General Mills' updated terms by sending an email to its legal team. However, that agreement assumes that you will "cease to participate in any of our offerings". If after this point you engage the company in some way, the agreement is void.

You might say that General Mills definitely has a few Trix up its sleeve when it comes to legal action.