Image: Mashable
Our favorite photo sharing social network program, Instagram has changed it Terms of Service with its partnership with parent company, Facebook. The app, one of the most downloaded app has made it fun for everyone to share pictures of our daily afraid, have raised some serious privacy concerns for users.
With the help of our friends at Lowyat.Net, Instagram’s new Terms of Service state that as of January 16, 2013, the company will have the right to use images and other user-submitted data and also sell it for advertising purposes. Hence, any photo or information that users upload on Instagram will be under the sole right of Facebook, who can choose to sell it to advertisers for better targeted advertising.
Furthermore, posting your content on Instagram’s domain also means that users give Instagram ‘a non-exclusive, full paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use to the Content that you post on or through the Service”.
However recently, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom apologized for the language used in the Terms of Service, stating that it isn’t the company’s intention to sell users’ photos and that Instagram has no plans for making users’ photos part of advertisements.
He explained that the company only meant to have users and brands promote their photos “to increase engagement and build a more meaningful following”. So, we could be seeing ads that resemble Facebook’s promoted posts, instead of advertising banners that could compromise the Instagram user experience. On another note Systrom has also stated that the Legalese language used in the Terms of Service will be amended due to the feedback. (Source)
For tech news and updates on Instagram’s new Terms of Service, visit Lowyat.Net
