Until recently, many people were unaware that Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The move came as a result of the social networking site leaping into the mobile space. Now, with suggested plans to incorporate advertisements, Instagram changes privacy laws and its terms of service. The change is causing a major uproar and users are not happy. With celebrity users threatening to boycott, Instagram slightly modified the terms of service again. But the modifications don’t really address the concerns over privacy and control of personal data.
Overview of the Changes
These changes will go into effect on January 19, 2013, and apply to about 100 million users. Here’s a brief overview of the changes.
- Instagram can share information about its users with Facebook, outside affiliates, and advertisers. The suggestion here is that by syncing the information between the two groups, advertisers will have more access to personal info. This would allow them to better target ads.
- Instagram can sell your photos without compensation to you, and you just might appear in an ad. In the initial changes, Instagram stated: “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”.
- Advertisements might not be labeled as such. The site states, “You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such”.
- These terms and services even apply to minors.
If you want out, you need to delete your account. Do these new terms of service concern you?
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Click here to view our last blog post or check back next week for more business litigation tips. For more on privacy concerns, click http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/what-instagrams-new-terms-of-service-mean-for-you/
http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/updated/