After reading about the new
Facebook TOS I began to wonder if Facebook would be able to resell images their advertisers acquire from Shutterstock as part of the new
Facebook/Shutterstock deal.
I questioned Scott Braut on the subject and he supplied the following clarification.
Our agreement with Facebook controls the use of the images we provide rather than the user terms of service. Our agreement provides that each time a unique user first uses an image for Facebook advertising through this relationship, a royalty is earned (i.e. Facebook cannot publish images though our relationship on behalf of an advertiser without generating a royalty for the contributor.
The advantage Shutterstock has is that Facebook knows when an image on their site has been acquired from Shutterstock. With all other images posted on Facebook, Facebook has no way of knowing if the image was created by a professional who expects compensation whenever the image is used, or whether it was posted by an amateur who doesn’t care if others use and profit from his/her work.
Whether Facebook should be allowed to do whatever they want with all the other images and information posted to its site is sticky issue in a society that believes that large organizations should be free to profit in any way they devise from the work of the masses.