Tens of thousands of Australians are set to stop using Instagram to store their digital photographs after the Company changed their privacy policy giving it the right to sell users’ photos to advertisers without notification.Last night social network service Twitter was awash with angry users who do not want what they consider their private property to be used in Facebook marketing programs. Instagram is owned by Facebook after they acquired the company for $1.1 Billion in April.
Currently Samsung is bundling the service with the new Samsung Galaxy Camera.
The dramatic change in direction was revealed when the Company updated their terms and conditions which now say: “We may share your information as well as information from tools like cookies, log files, and device identifiers and location data with organisations that help us provide the service to you… (and) third-party advertising partners.”
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The Company went on to say: “To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you,” it said in its terms of use.
“This means we can do things like fight spam more effectively, detect system and reliability problems more quickly, and build better features for everyone by understanding how Instagram is used,” it said in a statement.
Last month Facebook vice-president of global marketing solutions Carolyn Everson said: “We will eventually we’ll figure out a way to monetise Instagram.”
The new policy has triggered a backlash among social media users, with thousands threatening to quit using the cloud based service.
One user tweeted: “Good bye #Instagram. Your new terms of service are totally stupid and nonsense. Good luck playing with the big boys.”
Professional photographer Clayton Cubbit said that the new policy was “Instagram’s suicide note”.
Analysts said that the new policies could deal a blow to Facebook’s reputation and alienate some users.
Richard Holway, chairman of TechMarket View, told the BBC: “Every time Facebook has altered their privacy policy it has led to a backlash and they’ve been forced to retreat. They tamper with people’s privacy at a cost. People are very upset.”
Alan Pelz-Sharpe, research director at 451 Research, added: “It’s a barefaced tactic that Facebook and Instagram have taken, and one that will likely meet with many challenges, legally and ethically.”
