Reading the privacy policies of the most frequented Australian websites would take almost 10 hours, a recent study by NordVPN has revealed.

The study, which delved into the privacy policies of the 20 most popular websites in 19 countries, found Meta’s social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, had the longest privacy policies of all the domains studied.

The average privacy policy in Australia consists of 6,876 words, which would take approximately 29 minutes to read. In a month, Australians would spend nearly 46 hours reading the privacy policies they encounter, according to the study.

Cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, Adrianus Warmenhoven, pointed out even though users are constantly reminded to read the privacy policy, one in three Aussies still doesn’t look at any legal information online.

"However, this is understandable. We would need to spend a quarter of a month visiting the websites we need. A minimum-wage worker in Australia would earn around $693.38 during that time," he said.

The longest privacy policy was from Meta’s social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, with a whopping 19,434 words, taking around 82 minutes to read. In contrast, X (formerly known as Twitter) had a much shorter privacy policy, consisting of 4,175 words and taking around 17 minutes to read.

The study also evaluated the readability of privacy policies using the FRES readability test and the Coleman-Liau test. Zoom scored the lowest on the FRES readability test (only 24.9) in anglophone countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. Netflix scored the worst on the Coleman-Liau test (14.98) in these countries.

Interestingly, the study found European countries have more comprehensive privacy policies than other regions. Germany's privacy policies were the longest, averaging 10,485 words and taking around 44 minutes to read. Other EU countries also had extensive privacy policies, with Italy at 7,068 words, Poland at 7,314, and France at 7,318.

NordVPN, a VPN service provider used by millions of internet users worldwide, also provided tips on how to spot red flags in privacy policies.

The first is to see what data is collected, while the second is to try searching for words such as “sell” or “sold” to make sure you find places in the privacy policy where it is mentioned that your data may be sold to third parties. Other good keywords could be “partners” or “affiliates.” Consumers were also recommended to search for the words “may” or “for example.” These words are used to hide some malicious actions the company takes against its users, like “may sell data.”

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