10,428 words · ~52 min read · Last updated April 2023
Clause-by-Clause Translation
Original
"When you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos or videos) on or in connection with our Products, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content."
Translation
Every photo you have posted on Instagram — the vacation photos, the portraits, the creative work, the photos of your children — is subject to a transferable sublicensable royalty-free license. Meta can distribute, modify, and create derivative works from them. This has been true since your first post.
Original
"We use your data to show you ads that we think will be relevant to you. This includes using information about your activity on Meta's Products and third-party sites and apps."
Translation
Meta tracks you across the internet, including on websites and apps that have nothing to do with Instagram, using the Meta Pixel and other tracking technologies. This off-Instagram data is combined with your on-Instagram behavior to build a comprehensive advertising profile.
Original
"We don't sell your personal data to advertisers, and we don't share information that directly identifies you (such as your name, email address, or other contact information) with advertisers without your specific consent."
Translation
Meta does not sell your name and email to advertisers. They sell access to you — your demographic profile, your interests, your behavior — without sharing the personally identifying information directly. The advertisers reach you without knowing exactly who you are. Meta knows exactly who you are. This distinction is important to Meta.
Original
"You can delete content you have posted on Instagram at any time. However, your content may continue to appear if it has been shared with others and they have not deleted it."
Translation
Once you share a photo and someone screenshots it, shares it, or embeds it, your ability to delete it is limited to deleting your copy. The Instagram-licensed version continues to exist in the systems of everyone who shared it, for as long as they continue to share it.
What You Actually Agreed To
A transferable sublicensable royalty-free worldwide license to every photo you have posted
Cross-platform tracking of your behavior on third-party websites and apps
Use of your data for advertising targeting, including off-platform behavior
That deleted content may persist through third-party shares and embeds
Arbitration for disputes and class-action waiver
That Instagram can change these terms and your continued use is acceptance
Bureau Summary
"Instagram's terms are notable for their longevity, their scope, and the fact that they govern a platform people have been using since 2010 to document their lives. The photos you took of your children, your travels, your creative work — all subject to a license granted when you first posted and irrevocably renewed with every subsequent post."
— Bureau Translation Service