The new Instagram terms and conditions were published , and seemed
to provide Facebook (company that owns Instagram) with all the “perpetual”
right for any image uploaded via Instagram, and allow the photos-sharing firm
to utilize them for commercial purposes without identification.
Because of this fact (the right to sell your photos), many
Twitter users said that they already closed their Instagram accounts.
Furthermore, National Geographic stated that all new posts to the service will
be suspended. One of the protesters was Noah Kalina, the same photographer that
was invited to the wedding of Mark Zuckerberg to take photos.
Nevertheless, Kevin Systrom explained that the new terms and
conditions have a whole different purpose and actually give Instagram the
opportunity to ”experiment with innovative advertising”. He also said that the
users got the message wrong as ”legal documents are easy to misinterpret”.
Systrom added that the problem will be solved to clarify
things by re-writing the terms and conditions and in order to highlight the
conditions in which the images might be used. He also said that they used a
language which misled the users in thinking that their private photos might be
part of an ad. Therefore, the language that raised so many questions will be
removed.
Systrom said that the company that he represents has no
intention to claim the right of users’ images and they will not change any
privacy settings. This is not the first time this month when Instagram users
get irritated. Recently, the feature that allows Instagram photos to be
displayed on Twitter was removed, causing a lot of tension between the rival
networks. Another controversial topic announced the deal with Facebook, when it
has been said that Kevin Systrom made an arrangement to sell Instagram to
Twitter for $525 million.
When asked about the matter in August, Systrom denied any
other deal intention and that the only offer for Instagram was from Facebook.When
the news about Facebook buying Instagram appeared, the price was firstly
estimated at $1 billion, but the figure dropped to $735 million as the social
network’s share price slid. In November, Facebook made an announcement about
its terms and conditions being changed in order to allow more data sharing
between Facebook and Instagram.
