By Eileen Brown
Instagram made a change to its terms of service (TOS) yesterday, which has caused a kerfuffle about ownership of its photos. The TOS has been changed to include statements about selling your details on to third parties for advertising.
The new terms come in to effect on January 16, 2013. You must delete your Instagram account before then if you want to opt out of the new terms.
The general terms of service state that Instagram:
‘reserve(s) the right to modify or terminate the Service or your access to the Service for any reason, without notice, at any time, and without liability to you’
and:
‘reserve(s) the right, in our sole discretion, to change these Terms of Use (“Updated Terms“) from time to time’.
The paragraph which will have the biggest impact on users is:
‘Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue.
To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.
If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf’.
The community have been in uproar about the news. This change in policy effectively gives Facebook, which bought Instagram and its 5 billion photos in September the rights to sell your uploaded photos. You will not see any revenue, nor get any credit for the images used.