Monster Beverage
Consumer Staples
43
out of 100. Number 272 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where Monster Beverage does well
- Arbitration 2 of 20. Few problems found.
- Renewals 2 of 20. Few problems found.
- No forced arbitration or class-action waiver found: disputes go to federal/state courts in Orange County, California. The website honors Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signals automatically. Text-message opt-in data is explicitly excluded from all third-party sharing ('All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties'). The policy grants know/access/portability/correction/deletion rights, a non-retaliation promise, content-removal rights for under-18 Californians, and states it does not sell/share or target advertising to users under
- Sensitive personal information (SSN, driver's license, health data) is only collected with consent, e.g. to administer promotions.
Monster can rewrite the contract whenever it wants without telling you, and just by visiting the site after a change you are deemed to have agreed to it.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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Monster can rewrite the contract whenever it wants without telling you, and just by visiting the site after a change you are deemed to have agreed to it.
We may at our sole and absolute discretion change, add, modify, or delete portions of this Agreement at any time without notice, to the extent permitted by the laws applicable in your jurisdiction... It is your sole responsibility to review this Agreement for changes prior to use of the Site, and in any event and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this Agreement and the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy set forth elsewhere on the Site... constitutes your acceptance of any changes.
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If you tag a post with a Monster brand, they get a forever, worldwide, royalty-free license to use your photos/videos for anything — no expiration, no revocation.
By posting Content on the Site or your social media accounts and using a hashtag in the post identifying Monster, Monster Affiliates, or any of their associated brands, you grant to Monster and the Monster Affiliates, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, distribute, publish, and/or broadcast, in whole or in part, in any medium and in any manner on this Site or otherwise, such information and Content...
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Any idea you send them (e.g., a new flavor concept) becomes their property outright — you assign all rights and waive moral rights, so they can profit from it without credit or compensation.
Any communication or material you do transmit to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary... Monster and the Monster Affiliates are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to the Site (the 'Feedback') for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, and marketing products using such information. You hereby assign and undertake to assign to Monster, on your behalf, all right, title and interest in and to the Feedback... You agree and undertake to waive any moral rights you have or may have in and to the Feedback.
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Signing up for text alerts means consenting to recurring autodialed marketing texts, with no limits on when during the day they can arrive.
By enrolling or otherwise agreeing to receive Mobile Messages from or on behalf of Monster, you consent to receive recurring Mobile Messages via an automated telephone dialing system to the number you provided, including but not limited to for certain offers, updates, sweepstakes, and other telemarketing and promotional communications, without regard to time-of-day restrictions.
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Monster admits some of its data practices legally count as 'selling' or 'sharing' your data, feeds hashed emails to ad platforms for lookalike audiences, and hands personal data to co-sponsoring companies for their own marketing — you have to actively opt out.
Our disclosure of your personal information to certain third-party providers and/or use of certain tracking technologies may be considered a 'sale,' 'sharing,' or 'targeted advertising' under certain United States privacy laws... Where allowed, we may share hashed identifiers (for example, email in a one way hashed form) with platforms to create custom or lookalike audiences; those platforms use the data solely to match and deliver ads and do not receive the raw identifiers. We may disclose identifiers; demographic information; commercial information; geolocation data... with select third party sponsors or co-sponsors to market and advertise the Services.
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Monster's privacy policy covers automated license-plate cameras at its facilities, storing plate numbers plus date/time/location for up to a year — unusual surveillance disclosure for a consumer beverage brand.
Monster operates an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) system at some of its facilities to capture, process, and store vehicle license plate data for security and incident investigation purposes... ALPR information is retained for up to twelve (12) months and then securely deleted, unless retention is required by law or for an ongoing investigation.
How these were found
Terms of Use read via browser_open at https://www.monsterenergy.com/en-us/terms-of-use/ (lines 0-255 of 272; final ~17 lines unreachable due to a transient browser worker error, but sections 1-20 were fully reviewed including governing law). Privacy Policy read via browser_open at https://www.monsterenergy.com/en-us/privacy-policy/ (all 419 lines); labeled 'Last Updated: May 2026' at time of review (Oct 1, 2026). The Terms of Use page showed no 'Last Updated' date. No verbatim mirrors used; all findings from official monsterenergy.com text.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.