Instagram walks back its controversial TOS update; reverts to old TOS

Well hey now. From the Instagram blog:

Earlier this week, we introduced a set of updates to our privacy policy and terms of service to help our users better understand our service. In the days since, it became clear that we failed to fulfill what I consider one of our most important responsibilities – to communicate our intentions clearly. I am sorry for that, and I am focused on making it right.

The concerns we heard about from you the most focused on advertising, and what our changes might mean for you and your photos. There was confusion and real concern about what our possible advertising products could look like and how they would work.

Because of the feedback we have heard from you, we are reverting this advertising section to the original version that has been in effect since we launched the service in October 2010. You can see the updated terms here.

As Dave Pell put it: "Translation: Fuck it, we're cool with just the billion."

Read the full statement here. I think that's pretty great news. I really enjoy using instagram, and my colleagues and I have had a lot of fun with our new Boing Boing instagram feed—I feel better about remaining a user now. But I don't know. Fool me once…

All that said, the new Flickr mobile app is pretty sweet. Personally, I think I'll straddle both for a while. And you?