“…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.”

Instagram’s new policy has inflammed the online world. Many users of the service seem to believe that the company will sell their precious pictures and filtered photographs. From the wording of this policy, that’s certainly the case. And their co-founder’s statement doesn’t stir confidence.

I wish to believe their new legalese is just that–legalese. This sentence clearly spells out a portion their intent: “in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions…” My hypothesis is that Instagram intends to embark upon some heavy advertising campaigns and the new language protects their right to utilize some of their members’ images. How do I know this? Personal experience. Zazzle, Red Bubble, Cafepress, and countless other companies uses the same wording in their terms of service to indicate their images may be used to promote the companies’ services. However, such a policy is inappropriate for a service such as Instagram which is intended for personal sharing of images instead of profiting. But the preceding statement is extremely worrisome: “…a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata)…” This crosses the line of privacy, in which Instagram is granted the right to display your profile information to other companies. I’m surprised there’s scant mention about the use of personal information. The firm could better pull of this policy by utilizing a cost-per-lead affiliate marketing model and share portions with their publishers and image owners. Such an action would “grease the wheels” and stir less controversy.

This of course spells disaster for the firm. I expect that the company will rescind or at least reword the policy. They should start with removing the desire to sell personal users’ data. Second, spell out that they intend to use their members’ images to promote their services. It’ll be interesting to view the results of this PR fiasco.

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