Zwanziger Blog #5

As someone who has had an Instagram account since the app was created, I can honestly say that I have never read the terms of conditions. Before you start to judge me, have you read the terms of conditions for half of the apps that you use? The answer is probably no and that is okay! It has a lot of dense words and a lot of information. But reading the terms of conditions is honestly never a bad thing and is worth checking out. While reading the terms of conditions for the first time, I found out a lot more about the app that I had previously not known. For instance, if you are a convicted sex offender then you cannot use the app, although I find it hard to believe that they actually police this policy. There were a lot of other articles saying relatively small things, such as that you have to be at least 13 years or older to have an account and that they have the authority to use your content (although they technically do not own it). Something that I found extremely odd though, was that they did not have that many policies regarding the safety of the individuals that use the app. This really stuck out to me because I have had a firsthand experience with this on Instagram. 

When I was a senior in high school, and was only 17 years old, I developed a pretty intense stalker on Instagram. This person would constantly direct message me and send me really threatening messages. I was constantly blocking accounts, only to have the person create new accounts and continue sending these messages. It got so bad that we had to get both my school and the police involved. The worst part? The police essentially said that there was very little that they could do, and they advised me just to delete my account. While it may seem a little dumb now, telling a 17 year old girl to delete her social media account didn’t seem like an option for me. I was baffled about how someone could be completely terrifying my life, and was actively threatening to attack me, and the police couldn’t do anything about it. While they did say that if they found who the person was they could prosecute them, they did not have a way of finding out who this individual was. When reading through the terms and conditions I was expecting to find something that would discuss the phenomenon of online abuse or online stalkers, and I found very little. While there were terms discussing how you should not harass individuals online, it did not say anything about prosecution or anything of that nature. In reality, Instagram had a clause that essentially said that they are not liable for anything of that nature, should it occur. While I understand that there are millions, if not billions, of users on the app, and there are probably a lot of cases of this going on, you would think that they would have something more talking about it. Under their “who is responsible if something happens” section they state: “We also don’t control what people and others do or say, and we aren’t responsible for their (or your) actions or conduct (whether online or offline) or content (including unlawful or objectionable content). We also aren’t responsible for services and features offered by other people or companies, even if you access them through our Service”. This is basically them covering their tails and saying that if anything at all happens through their app, whether online or offline, then they are not responsible. While it does make sense, I just feel like they could do a little more or try and be a little more helpful for people who have these situations. For instance, I feel like they could say that if these people were continuously creating new accounts on the same IP address (such as if they’re using the same phone) then they have the authority to be able to ban them altogether. But unfortunately they do not. Since they are keeping a lot of our information, you would think the least they could do would be able to track an IP address of people who are not using the app correctly. Not only that, but in the section directly under that they state that “You agree to defend (at our request), indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including without limitation, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, arising out of or in any way connected with these Terms or your use of the Service. You will cooperate as required by us in the defense of any claim. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, and you will not in any event settle any claim without our prior written consent”. This is basically saying that even by just using and downloading the app you are already agreeing that you will not hold them accountable for anything that might take place on the app. While I am lucky that my situation finally calmed down (mainly from me backing down and not using the app nearly as much), I think that if something did happen then this clause would be a hard pill for my family to swallow. While they are technically not accountable for what people do on the app, it would make it hard to accept that they do not care about the danger that some of their users are put in. Again, I think that they could do a better job of looking into these claims or trying to take more action in preventing these situations from occurring. Overall, I found that these terms and conditions were extremely eye opening, and I urge everyone to try and look more at the terms and conditions of the apps that they are frequently putting information out on and using.