Less than 24 hours after sparking a user revolt that saw even some of its most popular users threatening to jump ship, photo-sharing giant Instagram issued an apology to its users Tuesday, citing confusion over its policy and saying it will "remove" language from its legal terms that indicated it would sell users' photos or use them in advertisements, according to CNET's News.com.
Instagram chief executive Kevin Systrom wrote, "To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear."
The confusion arose Monday when Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook in April for $1 billion, announced its new terms of service with language that left many users aghast: "You agree that 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."
"Since making these changes, we've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean," Systrom wrote Tuesday.
Before the reversal, Instagram had a revolt of potentially devastating proportions on its hands, as some of its most popular users, including Emmy award-winning multimedia journalist Richard Koci Hernandez (@koci), vowed to leave Instagram for less commercial pastures.
“It’s hard to walk away from 163,000 people and a really strong community, but this has just left such a bad taste in my mouth,” Hernandez told the San Francisco Chronicle.
So Instagram users in Marin, what do you think? Now that the company seems to have reversed course, will you continuing using it? Why or why not? Tell us in the Comments below.
