Madonna has warned fans about Instagram’s new terms of service.
Madonna took to Instagram to warn her 15.6 million followers that Instagram’s new Terms of Use that took effect on December 20 include what she termed “cyber-surveillance policies.”
The Queen of Pop uploaded a video in which she alleged that Instagram’s new policies will allow the platform to spy on users and their families and access their private data.
According to Madonna, “Starting tomorrow, Instagram’s new cyber surveillance policies allow Mark Zuckerberg to spy on you and your family, steal your most intimate secrets and monitor your compliance with government mandates through all your devices – including your television – and sell your data to government and industry or punish you for disobedience.”
Instagram users react
Following Madonna’s warning, people have been expressing concern on social media.
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Twitter was flooded by tweets alleging that the new policy allows Instagram unfettered access to people’s devices. The allegations led some users to threaten to delete their accounts and remove the app from their devices.
“Instagram’s new data settings policy will allow them to have full access to your devices. I’ll be deleting my Instagram account and app. I’d suggest y’all take doing the same into consideration,” one user tweeted.
“I’m working on a new photo app – I have deleted my Instagram. Their new policy update allows them to watch you through your camera/access SMS messages,” another user alleged in a tweet.
Some users also expressed concern about the platform’s policy concerning sexually suggestive content.
According to Mashable, although Instagram’s Community Guidelines that require adherence to Facebook’s Sexual Solicitation rules are not new, people have been expressing concern that it unfairly targets sex workers who rely on the platform to reach their audience.
Instagram responds
The uproar on social media over Instagram’s new policy has forced the platform to respond.
Instagram insisted in a statement that nothing has changed in their terms of use and that the new policy statement was only intended to further clarify how the app uses data to serve personalized ads.
Instagram also took to Twitter to explain they did not make any changes to their terms and that they only changed the language to help people, including sex workers, understand them better.
“We made some changes to our Terms to make them easier to understand; for example, we’re providing clearer language on how we use data to personalize ads,” Instagram tweeted.
The latest news comes after Monsters and Critics reported that Madonna announced in May that she had tested positive for coronavirus and that she wanted to break quarantine to “breathe in the COVID-19 air.”
Madonna also sparked a backlash after she reacted to the George Floyd killing by uploading a video showing her son dancing to Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care About Us.