Over the past few days, I have spent hours combing over the fine print of Instagram’s Privacy Policy (and I very well may be one of only a select few humans on earth to do so). When joining social media, I believe it is fair to say that most people merely glance at the terms of use policies that they must agree to to join the platforms, if even that, but after reading the Instagram’s Platform Policy and Privacy Statement, it might be worth your time to give you social media’s policies a second glance.
Instagram’s Platform Policy begins by stating that while using the platform there is implied consent that the user agrees to all terms of use of the platform, and when initially joining the platform, the user is required to physically agree to the terms of use through clicking agree on the pop up window with a link to Instagram’s terms of use. Now this is all fine and dandy, but in the very next line of the platform policy, it states that, “We reserve the right to change this policy at any time without notice, so please check it regularly,” this essentially means that if the user is not constantly checking the terms of use instagram can inact whatever they wish in their terms of use without the informed consent of the user.
In reading the current version of Instagram’s platform policy, most of the requirements and liberties of the company are fairly straightforward, but I wish to focus on a few particular addenda that may put the user at risk. First and foremost, Instagram reserves the right to, “charge fees for future use of or access to the Instagram Platform,” which means that, essentially, at any point in the future, Instagram can charge the user to remain a member of the app. In conjunction with the implied consent section of the usage policy, this means that the user would have no idea that Instagram now charges for usage of their app unless the user is constantly checking the updated terms of use. As well, Instagram employs a system of automated and manual moderators that are in charge of deciding what content is fit for instagram. This allows for Instagram to moderate their content on what they see fit, which has been called into question as many pages with right leaning political views are having posts deleted and their accounts suspended. This ties well into a recent reading we had in class, “Why the First Amendment Doesn’t Apply to Social Media,” which outlines how these apps, like Instagram, are not bound by the first amendment because they are private entities, and thus can regulate how they see fit. The third concerning detail in Instagram’s platform policy is that they require the user to claim that they have no liability to damages sustained on the app. This means that the user is solely responsible if instagram has a bad firewall and a user’s passwords and emails are hacked through the app, and the hacker then uses those to steal money from the user’s online bank accounts, then Instagram is completely in the clear.
Finally, I conducted an interview with a fellow classmate to get his perspective on Privacy and usage Policies in general. My first question was whether or not he had ever read a usage policy for any app or website he had visits or uses, to which his answer was a resounding no. He stated that this was because, “I just don’t want to rea all those small words, and I am still going to use the app/website either way.” Then I mentioned to him what I described above from Instagram’s platform policy. He was a bit shocked, especially with the moderation section, stating that he had, “no idea that instagram could take down posts that violated their guidelines,”
in terms of whatever they want those guidelines to be.
When delving into the internet, it is important to remember to always be safe, and if time permits, read the user agreement.
For further Reading:
- Instagram’s Platform Policy: https://www.instagram.com/about/legal/terms/api/
- Why the First Amendment Doesn’t Apply to Social Media, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/first-amendment-social-media
