Fact Check: Crunchyroll didn’t change their terms of service, it’s always been bad

Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll has recently come under fire due to an alleged data breach where users credentials were posted publicly on social media by an individual.

Crunchyroll has denied there was a data breach, claiming that the leak had nothing to do with their systems and the accounts were compromised due to account sharing, and appeared to imply user negligence was to blame.

We are aware that login credentials for several streaming services, including Crunchyroll, were posted on social media and have resolved the issue. We have secured the affected accounts, investigated the situation and determined that there is no evidence that Crunchyroll’s systems have been compromised. Crunchyroll encourages subscribers to diversify and change passwords regularly and keep them confidential. For any questions regarding account security, fans can visit our Customer Service Help Page.

However fans were quick to notice a phrase in Crunchyroll’s Terms of Service which at a glance appears to remove any responsibility from Crunchyroll when accounts are compromised, possibly even in a data breach where they’re at fault.

Well-intentioned fans were quick to notice the phrasing, but are erroneously associating it with a recent update to the ToS. Thanks to the Internet Archive, we can see a variation of the offending phrase has been part of Crunchyroll’s ToS since its earliest snapshot in 2008.

“You are responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your username, password and corresponding Crunchyroll account information. You agree not to disclose your password to anyone. You agree that you are entirely and solely responsible for any and all activities or actions that occur under your Crunchyroll account, whether or not you have authorized such activities or actions.”

Admittedly, these kinds of clauses are relatively common and enable Crunchyroll to apply consequences even if someone says “Oops, my account got hacked, that wasn’t me” after doing something like dropping spoilers in the episode one comments.

Regardless, it’s a poor look for Crunchyroll as fears of a potential data breach have been stoked by the recent leak of passwords.


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A basement-dwelling ogre, Brandon's a fan of indie games and slice of life anime. Has too many games and not enough time.


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