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Instagram slapped with class action lawsuit over terms of service fiasco

Published Dec 25th, 2012 11:35AM EST

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Last week, Facebook (FB) announced to Instagram users that it planned to make changes to its terms of service that would open new doors for the company to better monetize its popular photo-sharing product. Worried that Facebook might begin selling photos or licensing them to advertisers without users’ permission, people panicked. Many even deleted their accounts. The company insisted that its policy changes were being misunderstood, but the backlash was too great and it eventually relented, dialing back the change and reverting to its older terms of service. As Reuters reports, however, it was already too late.

The Facebook-owned image-editing and sharing service is now the target of a class action lawsuit filed late last week in a San Francisco federal court. The suit was filed by San Diego-based law firm Finkelstein & Krinsk, and it alleges that Instagram unfairly forced users who did not agree with its new terms to delete their accounts and give up rights to the photos they had previously shared using the service.

“In short, Instagram declares that ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law and if you don’t like it, you can’t stop us,’ ” the lawsuit reads.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the company plans to “vigorously” fight the lawsuit, which he claims is without merit.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.