Anastasia

Dec. 3, 2020

Instagram's new terms of use come into effect in December

Two weeks ago, Instagram announced an update to the platform's terms of use. They will come into effect on December 20.

What will change? For starters, Instagram explained why it is a free social network. It's simple - because of the advertising. Instead of paying to access Instagram, you agree that the social network will show you ads.

To make it more interesting for you, the platform uses your personal data and selects ads by your activity and interests. Moreover, you already gave your consent not to use personal data as soon as you started using Instagram.

Another interesting clarification concerns the removal of content and accounts. When you request the removal of content or your profile, the removal process will begin automatically no more than 30 days after the request. It can take up to 90 days for the content to be removed after the process starts. Once removed, it may take up to 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.

• if your content is used by other users under a license (until the user himself removes it from his page);

• if deletion is not possible for technical reasons of Instagram itself. But the social network will remove it as soon as possible;

• if your content is needed to investigate and detect violations of Instagram policies, to protect their products and systems, and to preserve evidence, or to be provided upon request by judicial, law enforcement, or other authorities.

And, most importantly for us, Instagram explained how Instagram shouldn't be used. Although everything is expected here: you cannot impersonate others, provide inaccurate information, mislead, engage in fraud, or for illegal or unauthorized purposes.

Also, you cannot buy or sell Insta-profiles and their elements (for example, username). And in general, everything that violates someone's rights and Instagram rules is prohibited.

How exactly this will be tracked is not yet clear. But on Telegram channels, some people say that with the entry into force of the new rules, blocking cases will become more frequent.