It seems like just yesterday that Instagram had changed its terms of service so it could sell the five photos posted to it anyone wants to look at. That’s because it was yesterday. Also we made the easiest business call of the year and predicted that this state of affairs would not last.
Guess what Instagram just announced they’re changing!
In a fairly lengthy blog post, Kevin Systrom, the company’s co-founder, weighed in to apologize for any “misconceptions” that putting a passage about “selling your stuff without telling you or paying you for it” might have caused:
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.
They go on to explain that instead of selling your photos, they’d just offer “some of the data you produce” to businesses you might be voluntarily following. In other words, Facebook’s entire business model. Why the quick response? Well, it may have something to do with businesses jumping ship:
National Geographic just said it is suspending it’s account on Instagram. twitter.com/nickbilton/sta…
— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) December 19, 2012
Either way, Instagram will no longer be a bottomless repository of stock photos. At least until Facebook works out some other way to get exactly what it wants. It’s crafty that way.