Facebook’s Instagram photo service is scrapping proposed changes to its service terms after an outpouring of complaints that the company would use the new policies to sell images and other content to advertisers without users’ consent.
“The concerns we heard about from you the most focused on advertising, and what our changes might mean for you and your photos,” Kevin Systrom, Instagram co-founder, wrote in a blog.
Instagram unveiled a new privacy policy and service terms on Dec. 17 that it said would give advertisers more flexibility in using photos, user names and likenesses in ads. The changes reflect pressure on Facebook, the largest social network, to wring profit from its Instagram acquisition and reverse a sales- growth slowdown. Users fretted that the company would use the new language to sell their images to the highest bidder.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to buy Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock this year. Instagram, with more than 100 million users, lets people upload and manipulate photos for sharing over the Web.