Facebook will give users more control over the photos they post.
In a new upgrade to the user rights management platform, the company is starting to work with select partners who will have control over where their photos will be posted - including Facebook and Instagram.
The ultimate goal is to open the feature to everyone, something that has already been implemented in the case of music and video.
Facebook has not written which partners they are, but Verge assumes they are big players like National Geographic who will use Facebook Rights Manager to monitor where their photos are posted again. At that point, the company will be able to decide whether it wants to leave those photos where they are, order the removal of the images from the platform, or delimit the territories in which that photo may be displayed.
The procedure of taking ownership of the image begins with sending the CSV to Facebook's Righs Manager - a packet containing all the metadata about the file. They also define what rights are applied for and which territories are exempt. Once the algorithm confirms that the data sent by the user and the information in the image match, it will process the image and track where exactly it is located. If another person decides to disclose ownership of the same image, the two parties can discuss it (exchange several messages), and Facebook will at some point, if no agreement is reached, grant the rights to the person who first sent the CSV. If they have an objection, they will be able to send it to Facebook via the intellectual property application form.
This update could change the way Instagram works, given that there are profiles on the platform that post other people’s pictures, but mention the original artist in the post. Rightsholders will now be able to undo repositions without delay. Finally, content creators will need to invest in their own photography to avoid deleting works. Instagram, according to the source, may want to - become a place where only original images are posted.
Part of the preparation for the new mode of regulation requires some caution when working with memes, images that have been edited and modified in several ways. Memes, we remind you, are constantly being edited and modified, so Facebook must determine whether to allow people to remove those images or not.