Yesterday I wrote a piece about how Instagram was planning to sell off your wonderful photos to advertisers, paying you nothing in compensation. You can read that by going here.
I’d like to issue a bit of an apology and tell you what has really happened.
I wrote the article based on information I had gathered from everywhere but the actual Terms Of Use. I figured that if these big websites (BBC News no less) had quoted the Terms Of Use, it must be accurate. Today Instagram have offered some clarification of the issue and it’s caused me to spend some time actually reading through.
The first two points Instagram make in their Terms of Use are:
Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, except that you can control who can view certain of your Content and activities on the Service as described in the Service’s Privacy Policy, available here:http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/.
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.
So what this actually means is that while they can use your photos and details in advertising campaigns, still with no compensation to you, you retain full ownership of the content so are within your rights to deny Instagram use of the content. By default when you upload the image you are granting Instagram a license to use the images for free but if they pass this information onto a third party they HAVE to let you know.
So it’s not all doom and gloom. Instagram just want to help companies deliver more interesting and relevant advertising and your’s truly didn’t read his sources correctly. Sorry about that folks.
Instagram – Clarification