Snapchat, the app known for self-destructing messages looks to be moving in a new direction.
In their new terms of service, released Wednesday, Snapchat included a couple paragraphs that goes against their "Delete is our Default" history:
"Many of our Services let you create, upload, post, send, receive, and store content. When you do that, you retain whatever ownership rights in that content you had to begin with.
But you grant Snapchat a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, use, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, edit, publish, create derivative works from, publicly perform, broadcast, distribute, syndicate, promote, exhibit, and publicly display that content in any form..."
This means that Snapchat is now allowed to use pictures and videos from users in promotional campaigns as well as providing them to business partners for further use.
Snapchat's privacy policy also says the company "can’t guarantee that messages and corresponding metadata will be deleted within a specific timeframe."
Now, Snapchat users can change what information they provide to the app through the phone's settings, but Snapchat itself doesn't allow changes to be made to privacy settings.
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This type of privacy policy isn't unique to Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook have instituted similar policies, and this change is considered by some as a sign that Snapchat is maturing. The 4-year-old app is has been valued at up to $16 billion.
