Instagram to revise terms to clarify their hold on user content

There’s been a mighty furor over Instagram’s new terms of conditions that will go into effect from January next year, which basically state that Instagram can sell a user’s photos to third-party companies, who can then use these photos in promotions for a company’s product, without the user getting any compensation. An example of this would be a hotel company using photos you took at that hotel in their advertisements and brochures.

But now, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom has put up a blog post clarifying the company’s intentions, dismissing the fact that they’re trying to sell off anybody’s work, also mentioning that they realize that many creative artists and hobbyists upload photos they took with great care and hard work and they will always try to protect a user’s rights on the photos they’ve uploaded.

According to Systrom, the language in the new ToS was used in a way that gave people the wrong impressions about what their photos might be subjected to. An example of what Instagram is looking to achieve is quoted below from the official blog post:

To provide context, we envision a future where both users and brands alike may promote their photos & accounts to increase engagement and to build a more meaningful following. Let’s say a business wanted to promote their account to gain more followers and Instagram was able to feature them in some way. In order to help make a more relevant and useful promotion, it would be helpful to see which of the people you follow also follow this business. In this way, some of the data you produce — like the actions you take (eg, following the account) and your profile photo — might show up if you are following this business.

In short, user photos will not start appearing in advertisements by companies even though the new terms may have made people think so, and Instagram is working on revising the language they’ve used to make it clearer and pacify any doubts users may be having right now. Some people might say that Instagram is now backing off from its new terms because of the user backlash, but it is good to see that they are responding positively to all the feedback they’ve been getting.

Visit the source link to read up on the full blog post.

Via: Droid Life | Source: Instagram