Instagram says no to using photos without photographers’ permission

NEW DELHI: Websites need photographers’ permission to embed Instagram posts, says the company. In case they don’t, the post owner can sue them for breaching copyright. In an email to tech website Ars Technia, Instagram said that it does not provide users of its embedding API a copyright license to display embedded images on other websites.
“Our platform policies require third parties to have the necessary rights from applicable rights holders. This includes ensuring they have a license to share this content, if a license is required by law,” said Ars Technica in the mail. The company added that it is exploring the possibility of giving photo owners more control over photograph embedding.
The new rule comes after NewsWeek magazine lost a case against photographer McGucken, who had sued the magazine for copyright infringement. NewsWeek wanted to use a McGucken’s photo, but he turned down their offer. So Newsweek embedded a post containing the same photograph from his Instagram feed.