The new General Mills privacy policy may have customers thinking twice about using that Honey Nut Cheerios coupon.

In an update to its legal terms, General Mills has added provisions that protect the company from being sued by customers who have downloaded coupons, entered contests or joined online communities, The New York Times reported.

General Mills, which has added a gray banner on all pages of its website to announce the new policy, declined to provide a spokesperson to be interviewed by the Times. 

"While it rarely happens, arbitration is an efficient way to resolve disputes--and many companies take a similar approach," the company said in a statement quoted by the Times. "We even cover the cost of arbitration in most cases. So this is just a policy update, and we've tried to communicate it in a clear and visible way."

Under the new policy, customers essentially waive their legal right to sue General Mills when they join the General Mills website or subscribe to the email newsletter. The site notes that interacting with General Mills is "voluntary," but after using coupons or joining the main site, customers have just as "voluntarily" relinquished their right to litigation. 

Legal experts term this practice "forced arbitration," which is when customers who have received any kind of benefit have to negotiate with the company or go through arbitration when they have a dispute.

"Although this is the first case I've seen of a food company moving in this direction, others will follow--why wouldn't you?" Julia Duncan, director of federal programs and an arbitration expert at the American Association for Justice, a trade group representing plaintiff trial lawyers, told the Times. "It's essentially trying to protect the company from all accountability, even when it lies, or say, an employee deliberately adds broken glass to a product."

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