A Public Apology was posted online today by Instagram for its change in policies today. Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said it’s “our mistake that this language is confusing”. A recent policy update stated in its Terms of Use and Agreement stated that all the user profiles and the photographs associated with the web service could be used as instagram for advertisement purposes without any permissions from the profile owners.
This had sparked a rage online where users mentioned their concerns , keeping in mind all huge policy updates just 3 months since Facebook acquires it. The root cause was to increase revenue from the photo sharing web social without affecting the existing structure. However, the correction letter had to clear the air saying they ” needed a language update ” and are working on a better language to clear the confusion.
To sum it up , Instagram wont sell your photos .
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.
