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In a mess that could rival Apple’s Maps App
debacle earlier this year, Facebook backpedaled on the new Instagram policy change. Instagram is a popular photo sharing service acquired by
Facebook. According to the new policy, the service has the right to sell
off the photos uploaded by the users to advertisers. If that wasn’t
enough, the policy also stated that Instagram didn’t have to pay the
users anything for the pictures they had sold.
Not surprisingly, people from around the world who use Instagram
reacted strongly to it. The internet became the arena of choice for
bashing the new policy change. Some of the industry experts and insiders
also seized the moment to criticize this decision by Facebook
as a cheap stunt to make more money. As expected, Instagram had to back
down and withdraw the policy for now. They have claimed that it was a
‘big misunderstanding’ on their part.
As of now, the official word from Instagram is that they are going to
go ahead with the policy change but will revise the language used to
describe it. The policy is going to be implemented at the beginning of
2013 so they have only a few days in which to make the revision. What is
quite surprising is that Instagram is still going to implement the
policy. They have a tough job on their hands convincing users that the
policy does not exploit them.
The co-founder of Instagram Kevin Systrom tried to diffuse the
situation. On the service’s official blog, Systrom said that the
language of the policy was the cause of the confusion. He also claimed
that the service has absolutely no intentions of selling the photos
which have been uploaded by users from all over the world. He commented
that they are working on changing the language used and have removed the
section from the terms & conditions which caused the furor.
At the same time, one should not forget the scale of the issue.
People from all over the world, including some well-known people and
celebrities had expressed their distaste for the new policy. Yet,
Instagram thought that none of their august officials should step
forward and apologize in public for it. A blog post is perhaps the most
convenient option as they didn’t have to face anyone. The Apple CEO had
issued a public apology after the maps mess earlier this year.
The blog post further clarified what the service is going to do. They
are going to take the user photos and actions performed by the users to
create ads for businesses. This is similar to what happens on Facebook
when a page you like shows up in your friends’ sidebar. It is a means of
promoting the business for which the service will receive cash from the
business. The bottom-line is that Instagram may not be selling the
photos directly but is going to make money off them.
With the outrage the policy change has caused, it would have been
more appropriate for Kevin Systrom to come on TV and apologize. The
users are not going to be satisfied with a blog post.
