The cloud-based file transfer company WeTransfer has removed terms in its updated terms of service in regard to intellectual property rights and machine learning models after criticism online.
On July 14, users expressed concern and alarm about changes to Section 6.3 of WeTransfer’s Terms of Service, which specifically referred to granting the company “a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licenseable license” and allowing it to use uploaded content “for the purposes of operating, developing, commercializing, and improving the Service or new technologies or services, including to improve performance of machine learning models that enhance our content moderation policies,” as well as “the right to reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, broadcast, communicate to the public, publicly display, and perform Content.”
In simpler language, the new terms would grant WeTransfer permission to train artificial intelligence systems on any content transferred by users and produce derivative works based on the transferred content that the file-sharing company would be allowed to monetize and not have to pay users for.
The company’s new terms of service were set to go into effect on August 8. Many art galleries, museums, and other art institutions use WeTransfer to send digital images of artworks, exhibitions, and art fair presentations.
Post-production professional Ashley Lynch also pointed out how the new terms would conflict with non-disclosure agreements with clients in a post on the social media platform Bluesky:
WeTransfer was founded in 2009 and was acquired by Italian technology company Bending Spoons last year.
“We don’t use machine learning or any form of AI to process content shared via WeTransfer,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to ARTnews. “The passage under discussion was initially updated to include the possibility of using AI to improve content moderation and further enhance our measures to prevent the distribution of illegal or harmful content on the WeTransfer platform.”
“With that said, members of the art community using WeTransfer can rest assured that we do not use their content to train machine learning models and other AI tools.”
The spokesperson also said “this passage has caused confusion for our customers” and the company had changed the license section of the terms of service.
“In order to allow us to operate, provide you with, and improve the Service and our technologies, we must obtain from you certain rights related to Content that is covered by intellectual property rights. You hereby grant us a royalty-free license to use your Content for the purposes of operating, developing, and improving the Service, all in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.”
