For this assignment I decided to explore the terms of use for Instagram. I originally thought that it would be somewhat hard to find them, but it only took a few clicks in the app and I was there. The very first part explains what this is and states that when you create an Instagram account you agree to these terms. The next part was bolded and capitalized in its entirety and said “Arbitration Notice: You agree that disputes between you and us will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration and you waive your right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration. We explain some exceptions and how you can opt out of arbitration below.”
As I read on in the terms of use it began to describe what Instagram was made for and the many ways you can use it, and touched on fostering a positive, inclusive and safe environment. Here it talked about the tools that they provide to you in order to make you feel as though you are in a positive and safe environment as well as the teams that they have that work to combat abuse and other violations of the terms and policies. Once again this is them watching out for online abuse as written about by Salter in order to not face the same challenges that MySpace did (2017).
Another part of this section touched on the way that they use your data to “connect you with brands, products, and services in ways you care about”. This is one part of Instagram that has always kind of concerned me, as I have done things on my computer and then later seen related ads for it on Instagram on my phone. In the terms of use it is still very broad when describing this function, but it does say that they use data from Instagram, other Facebook Company Products and from third-party partners. I assume that because my computer is logged into my Facebook that is how they get data about what I search on my computer. This is the ad that came up on my Instagram just now, right after I downloaded the DoorDash app:
Although it is somewhat sketchy and the explanation is not very detailed, there is not much that you can do about it if you wish to participate in Instagram’s platform. Within this giant mess of words it also has a link to their data policy explaining how they collect, use and share our information. Not only is this right in the middle of all this stuff that no one reads but it is also just another link to another giant mess of words that no one is going to read. In this way it seems as though they do not want anybody to read this.
As I read on I came to the section titled Your Commitments. Here I found the information that you must not be a convicted sex offender in order to use Instagram. I found this very interesting and admirable but also wondered how they were possibly able to enforce this or if they do at all. After reading this I decided to look up some celebrities who are either convicted sex offenders or are on their way to being one. Among these I looked up Mike Tyson and R. Kelly, both of which have active Instagram accounts.
The terms of use also included ways that you are not allowed to use Instagram including impersonating others, attempting to collect information in unauthorized ways, posting private or confidential information of someone else and more. Once again I have to wonder how much of this they really enforce and how they do so, but I agree that they are all good things to include. The part about sharing others information also made me think back to Gamergate when people were sending the woman death threats and sending out her address to everyone. This is why it is extremely important to protect people’s information and be wary of online abuse and information sharing.
Finally, it touches on the rights that they retain and actions in the event of a disagreement between a user and the company. They state that although they do not claim ownership of any of your content, you are granting them a license to use it. They also talk about how your information may be used or seen by other people, companies and accounts, and how you are agreeing that they can download and install updates to the Service on your device. It goes through the whole deletion process and explains how they can delete anything that they feel that they need to, and that they can still have backup copies of things that you post and delete. Lastly, they say that all of this and the section on disagreements will still apply even after your account is terminated or deleted.
In the end, most of this is more or less what I expected. I figured they would have a lot of binding agreements in order for you to be able to use their features. I was somewhat freaked out by the part about sharing your data, but I had pretty much already known this was happening. In the future I would like to see Instagram attempt to police things a little more in order to enforce their own rules as I touched on earlier, and to try to combat the dangerous, fake movements such as the #bikinibridge. Social media websites such as Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter give representations of idealized body images and motivational phrases which can lead to unsavory results such as the #bikinibridge movement (Drenten & Gurrieri, 2017). 
If these sites could attempt to seek out these harmful messages it would do a lot for the social media culture. Although they made it extremely long and boring so no one would want to read it, I found that it was easy to get to. I have never really found much desire to read any of the terms and conditions for any app or website, although maybe I should. I find that if other people I know are using it then that is good enough for me, and I will figure it out as I go.
Sources:
Drenten, J., & Gurrieri, L. (2017). Crossing the #BikiniBridge. The Dark Side of Social Media,
49–70. doi: 10.4324/9781315167718-4
Salter, M. (2017). Crime, justice and social media. London: Routledge.
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