Instagram can sell your photos – without paying or telling you!

Instagram has changed it’s Terms of Use to allow them to sell you photos without paying you and without telling you! The new Terms of Use come into effect on the 16th Jan 2012 and the important sections are 2 and 3 under ‘Rights’:

2. Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, 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. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.

2. You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such.

There are two course of action you can take. You either accept the new Terms and carry on, or you download all your images and delete your account!

To download all your photos you can use Instaport (thanks to wired.com for this info) It’s simple, and you end up with a zip file of your images which you can then upload to somewhere else, like flickr. When you have all you photos safe and sound go ahead and delete your Instagram account, you will find the link at the bottom of your Instagram profile page. You won’t be able to use the same username ever again (if that bothers you), but there are a load of other similar services available which a quick Google will reveal.

I have downloaded my photos and deleted my Instagram account.