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Instagram is incorporating users' photos in ads for Meta Glasses(twitter.com)
145 points by notRobot 3 hours ago | 62 comments
Cthulhu_ 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Didn't Facebook do this years and years ago?

Yes, 2013: https://mashable.com/archive/facebook-ads-photo#ggcKnNfAUaqy

> According to Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities:

> You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.

So it's not new. If you don't want this, delete your facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/dialog/delete-your-informat...

smalltorch an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Those are incredible terms that no one read.

acdha an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I cancelled my Instagram account when they added those terms in the early 2010s. At the time it was mostly photographers reading them and closing accounts but it wasn’t exactly a secret.

DANmode an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Speak for yourself.

“Few”, maybe.

satvikpendem 24 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

"No one" does not literally mean "not a single individual" in common English parlance, something that everyone (see what I did there?) here understands.

smalltorch an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean, I read them, but just goes to show the majority of people skipped this important reading.

If anyone actually read them it's typically a unlimited unrestricted pipe of data they can use for anything.

Espressosaurus 27 minutes ago | parent [-]

No one reads the terms and conditions. I went to a resort and read the T&C they made you sign to sign in and was told I was the only person in months who had actually done so.

And even I have mostly given up on the website T&C because most of them are so lengthy, a lot like I've given up on disabling javascript since the modern web frequently won't even render anything if you disable it.

cute_boi an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

99% of people don't read terms and condition.

DANmode an hour ago | parent [-]

We’re saying the same thing.

rootusrootus 25 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.

To be fair, if they actually honor this promise, and if it means what it sounds like in plain English -- i.e. that if you only posted your photo for friends, only friends can ever see it even if FB uses it for advertising -- that is a halfway decent mitigation of the issue. Not ideal, but then again, you're not paying for FB, so what did you really expect?

microgpt 5 minutes ago | parent [-]

"respect your choice" sounds like it means something but doesn't mean something.

pavel_lishin 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> If you don't want this, delete your facebook account

What? I thought I could just paste a paragraph of all-caps legalese to my profile, and it would solve this!

pbhjpbhj 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

To be fair it seems like it should be equally valid in contract law.

steve1977 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

This made me laugh and cry at the same time...

microgpt 3 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://xcancel.com/venturetwins/status/2071277885646868536

RattlesnakeJake 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Many years ago (back when Facebook still had sidebar ads), my sister was presented with a dating ad for "Hot Christian Singles" accompanied by a photo of our brother.

It was hilarious, but also mind-boggling. In what scenario would pulling in a friend's profile photo create a useful ad?

dewey an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> In what scenario would pulling in a friend's profile photo create a useful ad?

Exactly in the scenario you just described. You still remember it and you are actively talking about it years after the fact.

not_a_bot_4sho 41 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Sounds like the viewers were highly unlikely to have clicked through. Cost the advertiser a view but lost the conversion.

Useful ad for Facebook. They made money on it. The advertiser didn't.

fumblebee an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

wouldn't "useful ad" imply either 1) clicking through and buying the product or service, or else 2) building up a positive brand association to help increase sales later?

remembering an advert correlates but is different to it being valuable.

RattlesnakeJake an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

But it didn't bring clicks to the website nor goodwill toward the company.

No one remembers who ran the ad. Even if we did, it would only be in a negative light due to a weird and off-putting advertising approach.

dewey 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

Don't get hung up on this specific example of the dating ad.

There's a difference between awareness campaigns and click / conversion campaigns and if there's some ads for a garden chair and your friend is sitting on it you'll definitely remember it more than some random model. Or clothes that are advertised on your body. Not saying that's the future we want, but it would definitely work for a while.

PyWoody 21 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Roll tide.

glimshe 2 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When you don't pay for the product... YOU are the product.

remywang 6 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just stop using that cursed website

penr0se 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This shouldn't really be surprising. It's very similar to what they did ~1.5 year ago when they started to use users' photos to promote Meta AI

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42615538

srmatto an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is Meta abusing its users a problem? Yes. Does the TOS allow for it? Yes. Can people decide to just create a shell account and not actually participate? Sure.

One of the real insidious problems with Instagram and to some extent Facebook is that they provide a free, low friction way for business to communicate with current or potential customers. As a result many small businesses use Instagram as replacement for a public facing website and perhaps a blog or email newsletter. Many small business in my region depend on Instagram for this purpose, its nearly universal. It helps keep you stuck in Instagram so that you can see a business' hours, menu, or special events. I guess a shell account is the answer but you're still going to have to navigate the skinner box feed.

microgpt 4 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

We need a Nitter for Instagram.

burkaman a minute ago | parent [-]

https://imginn.com/

haliskerbas an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Every time I try to create a shell account, it gets banned with no reason given. Even if it's just to follow a few influencer accounts.

srmatto an hour ago | parent [-]

Well there you go, there is no reasonable way to be a non-participant while also staying up to date on businesses that choose to use the platform.

plagiarist 12 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If the only way to interact with a business is via Facebook or Instagram, I don't interact with the business.

Unfortunately this is more of a problem for me than it is for them. I hope my position on this becomes more popular over time so that everyone can stop using spy- and adware.

cute_boi an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You can't create shell account on fb/meta anymore. They will ask to turn on camera and rotate your head.

ed_elliott_asc 44 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Print out a face of someone on Facebook and use that?

afavour 20 minutes ago | parent [-]

It’ll be obvious when you turn “their” head that it’s not real.

catlikesshrimp 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

U a manequin head. Add hair and moles. It mightbtake more than one try but it works. Eventually, people who make shell accounts will be declared creepy child predators, but that isn't the case, yet.

tantalor 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Comment on that thread:

> This seems entirely counter-productive and creepy.

Apt description of Instagram in general.

encomiast an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I feel like having an account on a Meta site is today’s equivalent of being a smoker.

nicce an hour ago | parent [-]

There isn't better analogy. I hope it spreads and we will see the same effect and social pressure as smokers faced.

catlikesshrimp 40 minutes ago | parent [-]

Vaping is the new smoking. Except you knew what was inside a cigar, while vape liquid is a generic term for anything inside a bottle.

ricardofranco an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Something similar happened to me a few years ago. my photo was used in an ad, making it look like I was selling stuff and promoting a page I’d never even clicked on... absolutely mind-blowing....

fullshark 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Ten years ago maybe this causes outrage, but I'm not sure anyone cares in 2026 including potential customers.

quadrature 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is there actual proof that they are doing this. Theres not much to go on in the tweet.

tantalor 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Besides the proof in the screenshot? What more do you want?

Do you think this user is faking it?

quadrature 31 minutes ago | parent [-]

Yes people frequently fake screenshots on social media. I'd want either a screenshot from a credible person, reporting from a journalist, trusted blogger, company statement etc.

ryan42 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

yes, it happened to me recently.

The photo wasn't mine, but showed a profile photo of one of my facebook friends, and it had the glasses and said "On my way!"

edoceo an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

And they have a history of doing this. And their privacy/ToS allows it.

invalidusernam3 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"I'm uncomfortable"

Should have read the terms and conditions

onemoresoop an hour ago | parent [-]

What percentage of people read those? They’re even unitelligible to the layman.

hurfdurf 30 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

And that's how the HUMANCENTiPAD keeps growing.

dylan604 4 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Hey Siri, find the gotchas in this EULA being presented /s

jimt1234 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't know what's worse - this, or all the ads/commercials for Meta Glasses featuring Kylie Jenner, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yYQO8exxaU

ThePowerOfFuet 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://xcancel.com/venturetwins/status/2071277885646868536

kuschkufan 2 hours ago | parent [-]

i edited it to the same url before opening as i usually do for twitter urls so that i can see the full conversation without being logged into twitter.

for some reason the url rewrote iteself to this: https://themenspiegel.click/c/de/52_merzchrupalla/?method=po...

which is a german language scam site. i have no explanation how this happened, whether it is xcancel.com doing this or something loaded from twitter that caused xcancel to do this. never seen anythin like it before, would like to know more.

btw any further reloads of the xcancel url to that tweet totally work as expected.

pavel_lishin 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Throwing an additional anecdote into the bucket, this did not happen for me. Any chance you have a dodgy extension installed?

jadamson an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Sure you didn't just make a typo and hit a squatted domain?

ThouYS an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

why are people using these products exactly?

signing away their rights to their photos? making psychopaths filthy rich?

if the surveillance glasses are coming, these people will also have signed away the commons, which are not theirs to give away

literalAardvark 30 minutes ago | parent [-]

The surveillance glasses are nearing 3rd gen.

You'd know that if you used social media /s

Zhyl 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The XKCD for this exact scenario is 14 years old.

https://xkcd.com/1150/

fullshark 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Kind of a stretch, these days can't imagine anyone that views instagram as a place to store their cherished photos also.

doublerabbit 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Some reason that strip doesn't load for me.

nicce an hour ago | parent [-]

It is just saying that if you don't pay for something, you are the product. I think it still fits well here.

hsuduebc2 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean, what would you expect from company with morality of tobacco and slot machines producer? This is the least evil they are doing.

This thing resurface from time to time. It's the small text you never read. In this case, small part in ridiculously and intentionally big eula.