Vero Updates its Policy to Assure Users it Doesn’t Own Their Photos
Vero has updated its terms of use to remove the word “perpetual” from the license section to make it clear that the image rights granted by users are limited to the time that users have a Vero account.
Vero has been steadily growing in popularity among photographers for the last year as Instagram has chosen to focus on being more a platform that competes with TikTok than one that supports still photos. The platform has become popular because unlike Instagram, it doesn’t have any advertising, doesn’t use algorithms, and doesn’t sell access to its users data.
“People naturally seek connection — that’s why online social networks have been so widely adopted over the past ten years. They offered the promise of constant connection and the means to keep in touch with friends and to share what’s happening in our lives,” Vero says.
“But as time passed, an imbalance began to form between the interests of the platforms and the best interests of their users. And a false sense of connection left us lonelier than ever. So we decided to create something more authentic.”
The promise of an experience that is more akin to what Instagram was before its acquisition by Meta, then Facebook, has proven to be a value-rich proposition. But while doing research for a story titled “Fleeing Instagram to Vero,” photographer Enzo Dal Verme came across a line in the company’s terms of use that rubbed him the wrong way:
“As I read it, everything seemed fine until my attention was drawn to the request for ‘perpetual and irrevocable’ rights of use for content uploaded to Vero,” Dal Verme writes in a newsletter published on LinkedIn. “Warning bells started ringing in my head!”
Vero specifically says it had no intention to sell content uploaded to its platform to third parties, but the fact the line existed still bothered Dal Verme. He reached out to Vero to express his concern and, at first, all he received was a written assurance that the terms were okay as they were.
“And yet, it wasn’t okay with me — even when I sell my photos, I never give perpetual usage rights. If I post them on a social media platform, surely I want to have more control. So I insisted and asked if they planned to reconsider the terms of their contract, explaining that — as a photographer — I felt discouraged by that particular clause,” he says.
Vero listened. The company thanked him for pointing it out and responded that they had changed the user agreement due to his concerns.
“Thank you for your feedback on this. We have reviewed our Terms of Use and updated the license grant section to remove the word ‘perpetual’ and make clear that the rights grant is limited to the time the user has a Vero account,” the company tells him.
“As we have always made clear in our Terms of Use, we do not own any content users post on the service, nor restrict them from using that content off Vero in any way, but we are always happy to update our Terms of Use where we can make things clearer as was the case here.”
Vero’s terms used to state that by using the platform, users gave Vero “a limited, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, list information regarding, translate, distribute, syndicate, make derivative works of, or otherwise use your User Content, including (without limitation) your name, voice, and/or likeness as it is contained within your User Content, in whole or in part, and in any form, media or technology, whether now known or hereafter developed.”
As of today, that policy no longer includes the word “perpetual.” Of note, the update makes Vero’s policy read basically the same as what Instagram states in its terms of use.
Image credits: Vero