The social market roars, Instagram reverses course

Late Tuesday Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom reacted to public outcry over the mobile photo service's proposal to update its legal terms. Systrom promised users Instagram had no plans to sell their photos.

In a blog post published around 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, Systrom stressed the company, owned by Facebook, wouldn't sell photos uploaded to its application. Systrom said it is "working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear."

He went on to say, "The language we proposed also raised question about whether your photos can be part of an advertisement. We do not have plans for anything like this and because of that we’re going to remove the language that raised the question."

Beginning Monday, Instagram users began to revolt online when they learned of a proposal to update the service's legal and privacy policy. When initially reported to media, the new Terms of Service, to take effect January 16, 2013, stated Instagram will have the perpetual right to license all public photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, "which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency," as CNET notes.