Old Instagram Posts Could Cost You Thousands

You’re at risk. It’s time to delete those old posts.

How social media exists in our lives has rapidly changed since its early 2000s start. Many platforms like Instagram and Pinterest were once photo sharing sites that had a fun ethos of I found this photo or meme and I like it so I’m sharing it with my followers. This is not the case anymore. Social channels today are a legitimate arm of your business. With this change comes some potential serious consequences, so read on… 

Software tools, such as Pixsy and Copycat, now exist that use algorithms to find copies of photographers’ work and help the creator enforce their IP rights. With the potential to claim funds comes a new breed of lawyer that is not only targeting small businesses, but relying on your innocent photo sharing mistakes knowing the law is on their side.

So what’s happening? Suspected infringers (i.e. potentially you) receive stern letters demanding everything from compensation or licensing fees to warnings of a lawsuit against them.

As a small business you could unknowingly be accumulating a large liability from reposting viral or trendy images without permission. These new software crawlers can scour the farthest corners of the internet, reaching back many years. Do you remember the images that you posted 4-5 years ago? Those photos still on your Instagram posted years ago for fun could now cost you thousands of dollars.

It may not seem fair, but the perspective from the photographer makes sense. “For many photographers, especially those who can spend thousands of dollars on equipment, travel, and more, it’s unauthorized commercial uses—think someone appropriating a photo to promote a business or include in an ad-supported article—that are particularly galling,” notes an article on FastCompany.com.

As you can see, copyright laws are pretty clean cut for the creator while the rules of social media sharing are murky. After decades of the internet being a wild west of sharing, screenshotting, and embedding found images, the original creators of those images are now looking to get credited and paid for their work.

Our advice? Log into all of your social media accounts and delete any images that you may have used and can’t remember if you officially licensed them. Did you share a pretty massage photo to your Instagram that you found on Pinterest back in 2016? Delete it. Your followers aren’t scrolling back that far, but the bots are! Creator Studio makes it easy to search by date range through your Instagram and Facebook to find, edit and delete old content.

Don’t worry, you can find beautiful imagery for your brand for free thanks to sites like Unsplash and Pexels, or sign up with Adobe Stock, iStock or Shutterstock and pay a fee to license photos legally.