Faced with a tide of user backlash over its new privacy policy, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom announced in a blog post that the company will be “removing the language” from the policy that gave Instagram the right to sell users’ photos without paying or notifying them.
According to the post titled ‘Thank you, and we’re listening’, Systrom wrote:
“Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. 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.”
Systrom also said, “Legal documents are easy to misinterpret,”—however, the supposed ‘confusing language’ in the original agreement seemed pretty clear.
It 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.”
Was the original agreement misinterpreted? What do you think of Instagram’s response?
[via Instagram]