Instagram has made a full retreat from proposed changes to its terms of service that seemed to give it new ways to make money from its users' photos.
But was this a "win" for users? A closer look shows that even without the planned changes, things are pretty much staying the same.
CEO Kevin Systrom wrote on the company's blog late Thursday that it was never the intention to sell the pictures its 100 million users take each day to advertisers or other third parties. Right now, Instagram has no real revenue sources. The service is free.
Systrom said the company would revert to the old terms of service, which has left plenty of folks scoring this one as a victory for privacy and user rights.
Well, not quite.
The old terms were, in fact, roughly the same - just less concise. They state that Instagram "may display advertisements and promotions ... on, about, or in conjunction with your (photos)."
They also say, "You hereby grant to Instagram a ... royalty-free ... license to use the Content that you post ... subject to the Service's Privacy Policy."
The emphasis is mine, but in case anyone is keeping score, that's another way of saying "without compensation," which is primarily what upset users about the proposed change in terms.
But was this a "win" for users? A closer look shows that even without the planned changes, things are pretty much staying the same.
CEO Kevin Systrom wrote on the company's blog late Thursday that it was never the intention to sell the pictures its 100 million users take each day to advertisers or other third parties. Right now, Instagram has no real revenue sources. The service is free.
Systrom said the company would revert to the old terms of service, which has left plenty of folks scoring this one as a victory for privacy and user rights.
Well, not quite.
The old terms were, in fact, roughly the same - just less concise. They state that Instagram "may display advertisements and promotions ... on, about, or in conjunction with your (photos)."
They also say, "You hereby grant to Instagram a ... royalty-free ... license to use the Content that you post ... subject to the Service's Privacy Policy."
The emphasis is mine, but in case anyone is keeping score, that's another way of saying "without compensation," which is primarily what upset users about the proposed change in terms.
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