Category Archives: Instagram

Earlier this week Instagram set off a fire bomb of protest when it new privacy policy seemed to indicate that it reserved the right to sell users’ photos to be used in advertisements. So, that beautiful lasagna you cooked, could conceivably find its way into a Ragu ad. That would happen without compensation or your explicit permission. That doesn’t even take into account rights issues. Did you have your cousin’s permission to use the picture of him eating lasagna – for commercial purposes? That actually violates privacy laws in a number of states.

Here’s the language from Instagram’s initial announcement :

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.

To be sure, Instagram is a business. After Facebook acquired the company for $1 billion you know that a shoe was going to drop somewhere. Words to that effect were written by Instagram’s co-founder Kevin Systrom in his blog.

There does seem to be some significant backpedaling going on at Instagram. Placing the blame clearly on “confusing” legal language, Systrom writes, “To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.” He goes on to say that the confusing language will be removed.

Here’s what Instagram has in mind, according to Systrom’s blog:

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.

It seems to be exactly what Facebook does on it’s own site. It’s also quite different from what Instagram getting at the day before. It remains to be seen if Instragram loses its cool allure as it tries to wend its way to profitability. One thing is certain. Instagram users are watching. And they do read the fine print.