TOS Lands Instagram In Court
Instagram is not pleased with what Santa left under the tree: a lawsuit. To be more specific, Instagram is now involved in a class action lawsuit after it changed its terms of service, a move that customers are none too happy about. According to Reuters, the suit was started by a California user who is claiming that Instagram breached its contract by changing its service term. Instagram, owned by Facebook, responded by denying any wrong-doing and vowing to fight the suit.
This change was in Instagram's privacy policy, leaving users worried about photos being used in ads or sold without their express permission, and without being offered pay for them. The wording in the policy was later changed, but users were still left feeling confused. Josh Constine and Drew Olanoff discussed the misunderstandings and the fuss caused by the Facebook and Instagram terms of service and privacy policy changes last week.
Even though Instagram changed some of its terms of service almost immediately, language still remain indicating that Instagram that the site may not always "identify" sponsored content, paid service, or commercial content. Moreover, they kept the wording that alarmed users that essentially gives Instagram the capability of to place adds that are related to user content. They also kept a new clause that makes it mandatory for users to waive their rights to participate in any class action legal proceedings against them. Unfortunately for Instagram, the new terms of service do not go into effect until January 19, 2013, and thus is not covered by this current lawsuit.
Finkelstein & Krinsk, a San Diego law firm, filed the suit. It alleges that even if a user deletes their account on Instagram, they forfeit the rights to the pictures that they may have already put on the site.