Art Not Ads

Download the watermark “Art not Ads” and place it on your images. It’s free.

While a watermark won't change the terms you've agreed to with social platforms, it can make your photos less attractive to advertisers and other third parties. That's the core of our initiative. You’re not tied to using this particular watermark to deter unsolicited use—you can certainly create your own. However, this one is ready to go, complete with a message, if you need a quick fix. You’re free to adjust its size, alter its color, and position it wherever it looks best on your images. The goal is for it to be visually appealing to you.

If you doubt the effectiveness of watermarks, take a challenge: try to find any ads on social media that include watermarked images. They are exceedingly rare, probably because such images are less appealing for commercial purposes.

Should this campaign resonate with you, please share this URL and recommend it to others who might benefit. Additionally, include the #ArtNotAds hashtag in your posts to further promote the cause.

Social Media Terms and Conditions

Have you ever looked closely at the terms and conditions of the social media platforms you use? Whether it's images or videos, the content you upload is governed largely the same way across these sites. These platforms hold significant control over your profiles and content, dictating what you can post, express, or communicate. More crucially, by posting on sites like Instagram, Facebook, or X, you're handing over a broad spectrum of rights under the non-exclusivity clauses of copyright law. You may not be giving up ownership, but you are allowing these platforms the legal ability to alter, modify, and use your content until you decide to remove it. Even then, there's often a grace period of several weeks during which they can continue to utilize your content as they deem necessary.

Here are some important highlights from Instagram's Terms and Conditions:

Your Rights as a Content Creator

• Ownership of Content: Instagram does not claim ownership of the content you post on the platform. You retain your rights in your content.

• License to Use Content: By posting content, you grant Instagram a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use your posted content. This includes the rights to host, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works.

• Deletion of Content: The license ends when your content is deleted from Instagram's systems. Content deletion from your account starts immediately upon your request but can take up to 90 days to be removed from all backups and systems.

Rights Instagram Takes

• Use of Content: The granted license allows Instagram to use your content across all Meta Products and in various forms, including advertising or in other commercial contexts, without further compensation to you.

• Personal Data: Instagram uses personal data to tailor and show ads that might be more relevant to you. They also share anonymized data with advertisers.

• Username and Profile Picture: You give Instagram permission to use your username, profile picture, and information about your actions and relationships alongside or in connection with ads and sponsored content.

• Content Modification: Instagram can modify or create derivative works based on your content under the granted license.

• Intellectual Property: If you use content covered by intellectual property rights that Instagram provides (like images or videos), Instagram retains all rights to their provided content.

Additional Provisions

• Content Removal: Instagram can remove any content that violates their terms or policies or is required by law to be removed.

• Account Disabling or Termination: Instagram can terminate or disable your access to the service if they believe you violate their terms or policies.

• Rights on Account and Username: Instagram can change your username if it infringes someone's intellectual property or impersonates another user.

How to Add the ‘Art not Ads’ Watermark to Your Images

There is a wide array of photo editing software and online platforms that enable you to add watermarks to your images. Numerous YouTube tutorials are available to guide you through the process for each specific app. If you don’t have any photo editing apps, you can utilize these two websites at no cost. If you need help, feel free to reach out.

Watermarks: Enhancing Protection Against Content Misuse

"Free" comes at a cost when it comes to your presence on major social media platforms—sacrificing your privacy, freedom of speech, and control over your content. Watermarks may only be a minor inconvenience for these giants. The most effective advice might be: if you don’t want your work used by large companies without your consent, knowledge, and fair compensation, consider not sharing it where you can’t control the rights.

Additionally, hosting your own website is often the best strategy for sharing your content with the world. When you manage your own site, possibly including a domain if you’re tech-savvy, you retain full control over your content. Although social media is almost a necessity today, complementing it with your own website can significantly enhance your control over who sees and uses your content.