Celebrities including Usher, Judd Apatow, and Julia Roberts and even Rick Perry, the current United States secretary of energy and former Texas governor, all reposted a note that is similar to ones that have been going around since 2012.
There’s another Instagram copypasta hoax going around pic.twitter.com/u1BZM8pFux
— Taylor Lorenz on VACATION (@TaylorLorenz) August 21, 2019
LeBron James deleted his post on Instagram about a fake hoax about Instagram using your photos against you illegally pic.twitter.com/CnCrW4Tlq0
— A (@austin63867) August 21, 2019
Embarrassing that the guy in charge of our nuclear arsenal, Energy Sec Rick Perry, fell for and reposted this Instagram hoax. pic.twitter.com/lAZzPnreFR
— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) August 21, 2019
PSA: this new Instagram "rule" that allows them to use your photos is completely a hoax. When you see someone share a chainmail message like this PLEASE let them know (for the sake of eradicating fake news & because I am SO TIRED of seeing it on my TL) #fakenews #Instagramhoax pic.twitter.com/0qOOemYyCW
— Rachel Kidwell (@rachelkidwell93) August 21, 2019
The copied-and-pasted note has been spreading over the past day, warning of supposed changes to Instagram’s privacy policy that’ll give Instagram the power to “use your photos” in various ways without consent. The message claims it would help to forbid Instagram from using a person’s information or “disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking” any action against them based on what’s posted to their profile.
“There’s no truth to this post,” Stephanie Otway, a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told The Verge.
The legal citations in the hoax also have little to do with Instagram: the UCC is the Uniform Commercial Code, which forms the basis of state-level contract law and generally doesn’t apply to copyright issues, and there’s no such thing as UCC 1-308-11308. The closest thing, UCC 1-308, doesn’t have any penalties, being mostly about reserving the right to sue even if you accept defective goods. The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court in 1998, long before Instagram-related privacy issues even existed.
Instagram’s terms of service includes a bolded line that reads: “We do not claim ownership of your content, but you grant us a license to use it.” It also says you can end that license at any time “by deleting your content or account.” The company can also share data and content with law enforcement, but only in response to warrants, court orders, or when it is believed necessary to prevent a crime.
