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Dec 25, 2012



Instagram, the synonym for mobile photo sharing is being in troubles now. The change of Instagram’s policies has triggered all this which will be in effect from January 19 2013. This resulted in a public uproar and celebrities to announce that they want to deactivate their accounts if these policies persist. And some of the popular profiles like National Geographic stopped their photo uploads. In this post I would like to explain why really is Instagram not safe?

It is known that few months back Instagram was acquired by Facebook for a huge $715 million. And since then Facebook is working on a better monetization method on Instagram. As a result, they have come with the new “terms of service” which made the users worry about their privacy, content and ownership.

A part of the policy statement stated: “you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the content that you post”. This really is lingering the minds, isn’t it?

This implied, to all the Instagram users that you almost lose ownership of your photos in Instagram. And Instagram could sell your content to anyone and anytime without your consent or compensation.

For instance, at a party you shared pictures of your friends drinking Coca-Cola, and then Instagram have every right to sell those photos to Coca-Cola for their ads without your consent and permission.

The division of the terms of service said: "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 and/or actions you take … without any compensation to you".

In this modern digital era, the real money is not dollars but personal data more precisely digital data like usernames, likes etc. It’s clear that Facebook intended to “change” the Instagram makes money, but I feel this isn’t the right way. Above all the end user revolution could make anything happen.

So, finally I would like to list out why Instagram is not safe
  • Instagram can sell your pictures for ads.
  • Instagram can use your personal data for targeting ads.
  • Instagram and obviously Facebook also will have full control over your data.
Yes, it’s true that on the internet, if you're not paying, then you are the product!