You, like me, probably post content to social media daily. Some of this is helpful content created by others, but you are also posting your own content to social media.

And once you hit the button, you give the social media content provider rights to your content.

On a regular basis, I hear that what Facebook is doing is unfair and they don’t need rights to your content. (The same goes for Instagram or any other social media service provider.)

When you create this content for social media, much of it is covered by copyright. This means you own a copyright in that content. For any content you own a copyright in, you have the exclusive right to:

• make copies of your work
• sell your work
• distribute your work
• make changes to your work
• display your work publicly
• publicly perform your work

And for anyone else to do these things, they must get permission from you. (That is unless their use is fair use.)

Social media service providers need your permission because they are doing these things. And their use doesn’t qualify as fair use. And these things are critical to their service—sharing your content.

For example, take Instagram. You take a photo, edit it, and post it to Instagram with a caption. You’ve got a copyright in the photo and depending on your caption, you also might have a copyright in it.

To show your copyrighted work, AKA your post, to other Instagram users, they need to:

• store a copy of your post on their servers and make a copy of it to the device of each user that views it
• distribute your post through their app and website
• change the dimensions of your photograph to match the technical requirements of their app and website
• change your work to incorporate it into their app and website
• change your work by adding the ability for people to interact with your work through likes and comments
• display your work publicly by posting it with their app and on their website

Which is why when you signed up for Instagram, you checked a little box saying that you agreed to their terms of service. Because they need permission from you in order to do their job.

So what can {social media service} do with your content once you’ve posted it?

So what can Instagram do with your content once you’ve posted it?

Like all social media service providers, Instagram does not claim copyright ownership in your posts. Instead, they need permission to use your content, AKA a license. This license gives them the rights to use your content:

• non-exclusively
• without payment to you (fully paid and royalty-free)
• throughout the world

And they have the rights to give permission to others to do the same.

So, what can Facebook do with your content once you’ve posted it?

Unsurprisingly, Facebook requires a very similar license to the one you give Instagram. (They are owned by the same company and all.) Facebook does not claim copyright ownership in anything you post to their service. Instead, they require a license that gives them the rights to use your content:

• non-exclusively
• without payment to you (royalty-free)
• throughout the world

And they have the rights to give permission to others to do the same.

Facebook does call out that this license ends when you delete the content from your account. The exception is if others have shared the content and it is still associated with their account. They also note, that after deleting content it may stay on their servers for a reasonable amount of time.

So what can Twitter do with your content once you’ve posted it?

Once again, there is no copyright claim on the content posted or submitted to Twitter. Twitter’s license gives them the rights to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute your content:

• non-exclusively
• without payment to you (fully paid and royalty-free)
• throughout the world
• in any and all media and distribution methods existing now or in the future

And they have the rights to give permission to others to do the same.

Twitter explains that modifying and adapting your content is necessary to distribute it and conform to service and device requirements.

So, what can Pinterest do with your content once you’ve posted it?

And again, Pinterest makes no copyright claim on the content you post. Pinterest’s license gives them and other Pinterest users the rights to use, store, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify, create derivative works, perform, and distribute your content:

• non-exclusively
• without payment to you (royalty-free)
• throughout the world

And they have the rights to give permission to others to do the same.

Similar to Facebook, Pinterest explains what happens when you delete content or your account. When this happens they also keep your content for a reasonable period. Also, like Facebook, if others have posted your content and they haven’t deleted it, it stays on their accounts.

What is “use”?

You might have noticed that the required licensing rights were slightly different:

• Facebook and Instagram: use
• Twitter: use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute
• Pinterest: use, store, display, reproduce, re-pin, modify, create derivative works, perform, and distribute

But legally are they any different?

The answer is probably not.

For clarity, traditionally many licenses have spelled out all of the rights granted. Because “use” does not necessarily include or exclude the other exclusive rights you as a copyright owner have in your work.

By using “use” alone, it introduces uncertainty into the contract.

• Does it give them the rights to reproduce your content?
• Does it give them the right to make changes to it?
• Does it give them the rights to distribute your content to others?

To solve the uncertainty, you have to look at the license as a whole and see what uses are implied. And it’s obvious that they need to do more than just use your content to provide you with their service.

So the bottom line is while there is some uncertainty there, you need them to do more than just use your content. Which is why legally the rights you grant each of these services is likely the same.