(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Ed. note: A version of this post was originally published on November 27, 2012. We republish it today as a public service to anyone considering posting this ludicrous “legal” notice on Facebook and Instagram, a product of Facebook.
By now, we’re sure you’ve seen the ridiculous copyright and privacy notices that have been popping up on Facebook and Instagram posts left and right — and if you haven’t, then perhaps your friends are simply more intelligent than the masses who’ve been fooled into believing they can override a social media giant’s terms of use.
We’ll put this simply to avoid further confusion: stringing together nonsensical bits of pseudo-legalese cannot save you from succumbing to the rules and regulations of the Facebook gods. On the other hand, stringing together nonsensical bits of pseudo-legalese is sometimes what law blogging is all about, so we’ll help our readers debunk the myths of privacy and intellectual property rights on Facebook and Instagram.
Aww, you thought Facebook and Instagram couldn’t use all the things you posted on their sites because of your privacy settings? Well, isn’t that just precious.
Here’s the copyright and privacy notice that’s been making the rounds on Facebook and Instagram (a similar one was circulated in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and earlier in 2019):
Don’t forget tomorrow starts the new Facebook rule where they can use your photos. Don’t forget Deadline today!!! It can be used in court cases in litigation against you. Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from today Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook/Instagram’s privacy policy. I do not give Facebook/Instagram or any entities associated with Facebook/Instagram permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With this statement, I give notice to Facebook/Instagram it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute. NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tacitly allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM DOES NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO SHARE PHOTOS OR MESSAGES.
Thank God you cited the Uniform Commercial Code and the Rome Statute, or else you would’ve been totally screwed… except for the fact that you kind of already are. (By the way, the Rome Statute? Seriously? From where we’re sitting, the only crime against humanity here is that you’ve taken the time to post this gibberish on Facebook/IG.)
One thing that Facebook (and Instagram) freely admit is that once you’ve agreed to their terms and conditions — which you already did, by signing up to use their services — you’ve granted the company a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).” That being the case, you may want to delete those incriminating pictures (even though they’ll still be available on the sites’ archives and backups, so good luck with that, everyone).
For those who think they can turn it around on Facebook/IG by updating their status, here’s some guidance from Snopes, which has debunked this hoax repeatedly:
Facebook users cannot retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their accounts nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict any new privacy or copyright terms instituted by Facebook simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls.
If only contractual agreements could be voided by posting something akin to “LOL no” on Facebook or Instagram, perhaps we’d have a more peaceful world (or a much more confusing one); but whatever, no one really cares about legal mumbo-jumbo — except for lawyers — until they think they have something to stomp their feet about online.
So why are people’s panties in such a bunch? When this nonsense first popped up online in 2012, it was because Facebook changed its privacy policy. For the details, we turned to Kashmir Hill, ATL editor emerita and goddess of all things privacy-related:
Facebook is adding a clause to the data use policy that allows it to share “information with affiliates,” i.e., other companies that Facebook owns. Bloomberg calls the move Google-like, pointing out that it will allow Facebook “to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram.” I think it’s less like Google mashing up everything it knows about a person in one basket and more like a typical corporate clause. But it does mean that Facebook and Instagram info may now exist on the same server and won’t be kept separate, meaning the social networking can now see everything it knows about you through a Walden filter.
For additional information, you can read more at the Not-So Private Parts on Forbes. In January 2015, ABC News got a quote from a Facebook spokesperson on this topic:
“We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts — when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement, according to ABC News. “Under our terms (https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms), you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
And here’s the final word from Stephanie Otway, brand communications manager at Instagram: “There’s no truth to this post.”
That’s about it when it comes to your new and improved privacy and intellectual property rights on Facebook and Instagram. Next time you post, you’ll be allowing Facebook/IG to share your stats with other affiliated platforms. Build yourself a bridge and get over it.
Here’s a proposition for you: delete the things you’d prefer Facebook and Instagram not to see. Here’s another one: don’t pretend you’re a lawyer and spread completely meaningless information to all of your Facebook and Instagram friends. Here’s the most novel suggestion of all: if you don’t like the changes (which have been in place for years), don’t use Facebook or Instagram.
We hope you realize that this copyright and privacy notice means the same thing it did when it was posted almost eight years ago: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You can’t change the terms of a legal agreement with a Facebook or Instagram post. Stop it.
But if you simply can’t help yourself, at least do something creative like John Mayer.
Instagram Quashes Photo Usage Rumor After Post Goes Viral [WWD]
Facebook Privacy Notice [Snopes]
Facebook privacy hoax making the rounds, again [CBS News]
Facebook Copyright Hoax Goes Viral Again [ABC News]
It’s A Hoax. Facebook Is Not Limiting Your News Feed To 26 People [Forbes]
What You Actually Need To Know About The Changes Facebook Is Making To Its Privacy Policy [The Not-So Private Parts / Forbes]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.