NROP: An easy way to get your wedding photos banned from Pinterest.

A worker on a tea plantation

Terms and conditions are continually changing. Companies are obliged to inform us if they implement any changes to their fine print. Do you read them when you get an alert in your inbox? Chances are that you do not. More often than not, people sign up for something and agree with the conditions of use without even reading them. Sometimes, people do read them (or more likely – skim through them), but it rarely makes or breaks their decision to use the services offered. Once you agree to the terms, you might not be motivated to read them when they get updated. If you like the services, chances are that again – these will not make or break your decision to accept the conditions of use.

Just the other day, Britchy wrote a post about boycotting Twitter. Their new terms and conditions say that: “Discussions related to child sexual exploitation as a phenomenon or attraction towards minors are permitted.” Yes, I went straight to the source (Twitter) and confirmed that those are the exact words they used. Yes, they do add that no such discussions should promote or glorify child exploitation. However, I still find it revolting. This seems to have been implemented earlier this year, so I am not sure why this is blowing up now. Maybe someone finally read the new terms and conditions? Starting January 1st, 2020, Twitter “may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Services or any features within the Services to you or to users generally. We also retain the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time. We may also remove or refuse to distribute any Content on the Services, limit distribution or visibility of any Content on the service, suspend or terminate users, and reclaim usernames without liability to you.” What does that mean? They can basically shadow-ban anyone or anything without a reason.

This comes as a shock to me, but Pinterest is considered one of the largest wedding-planning websites. Together with Knot Worldwide (another huge wedding-planning website), they are putting restrictions on wedding photos taking on plantations. The Chief Marketing Officer for the latter announced that they are working on compiling a list of guidelines to stop people from celebrating and romanticizing plantation history. She said that “We want to make sure we’re serving all our couples and that they don’t feel in any way discriminated against.” What prompted them to do so? Color of Change, which is a civil rights group, made such a request. They claim that while the scenery might be deemed “breathtaking” by some, it is painful to look at by African-Americans. Plantations have been synonymous with slave labor in the past.

Two celebrities, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, got married on a plantation seven years ago. In the past, slaves picked pecans and peaches there. While the Knot is planning on restricting people’s freedom of speech by banning the use of “language that glorifies, celebrates, or romanticizes Southern plantation history,” Pinterest plans on completely removing plantation wedding photos from their platform.

Color of Change, in their letter to Pinterest and Knot Worldwide, wrote that: “The decision to glorify plantations as nostalgic sites of celebration is not an empowering one for the Black women and justice-minded people who use your site.” When did we decide that everything must be empowering? Why not start banning everything that is not made out of cotton candy? Or chocolate. Or tea. One of those definitely empowers me. The vice president of Color of Change went as far as to compare plantations to concentration camps. She (or whatever pronoun she prefers) said that it would be weird and disrespectful to shoot your wedding photos at a site like that. Have you ever seen a photo of a plantation vs. a concentration camp? People have weird fetishes, but I know of no one that would think the view of a concentration camp was “breathtaking.”

Last time I checked, a beautiful view was a beautiful view. When you take photos while on vacation, do you think about all the people that were injured or killed nearby? If not, then you probably should. According to some people, anyway.

There was a time when BuzzFeed was a place where you would watch silly videos and take some quizzes. Now, they are a source of news. All of the above was published in their report a couple of days ago. I was unable to find any updates to Pinterest’s terms of use just yet.

We have gone through this before. These are private companies. Why are people getting so outraged? They can do pretty much whatever they can. You go to the store, you see a product you do not like, you simply leave it there on the shelf for someone else to pick up (or not). You do not buy it simply to complain about how terrible it is. That would be a waste of everyone’s time. The simplest way to stop all that nonsense is to completely abandon social media platforms which are becoming problematic for you. If you are not ready to do just that, then I would recommend taking a deep breath and staying calm. It is what it is.

Maybe I should draft up a letter to someone demanding something. I am not sure to whom and what about the letter would be… But I know it would work because otherwise I would not feel empowered or included.

Do you read “Terms and Conditions” or do you just hit “Accept” without reading?

Do you review the updates to “Terms and Conditions” you receive once you are already using the services?

Will you stop using Twitter or Pinterest because of their recent changes?

Have you used Pinterest to plan your wedding?

What would have to happen for you to boycott the social media platforms you are currently using?

What do you think of when you see photos of plantations?

Stay golden,

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66 thoughts on “NROP: An easy way to get your wedding photos banned from Pinterest.”

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  1. I had a conversation like this the other day with a friend of mine. It’s crazy how we just click trough or swipe through terms and agreements just to get to the app and pay no attention to what the app will do with the info on your phone. I like Pinterest, only I don;t use it very much. Twitter is my go to and will most likely always use that. Great post, miss our interactions lately but you know why. At work now lol

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. It’s terrible how it’s all or nothing nowadays with these apps. You either use it and accept the terms, or don’t accept the conditions and don’t use the app. Companies know how much power they have and they’re not ashamed to abuse it.

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  3. Wow, removing wedding photos taken on plantations is just crazy. If people start restricting photography by the historical context of a place then there won’t be many locations that aren’t restricted. There have been all manner of atrocities committed by people through the ages in places as diverse as churches (inquisition) and castles (dungeons) to fields (wars and battles). Like it or not, bad things happened at certain locations. I agree that shooting a wedding in a concentration camp would indeed be tasteless, but likening a plantation to a concentration camp is also pretty tasteless. Maybe ban weddings from taking place at locations that are deemed to be unsuitable? If a plantation was deemed to be an unsuitable venue for a wedding (like a concentration camp) then this wouldn’t even be an issue…

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  4. Sigh. Can I still breathe though?
    When you are war monuments often the number attraction on trip advisor?

    The same is when you download an app.
    It will ask you if it can you use your photos, location and camera. And we hit YES without thinking.
    But what is the alternative? None.
    These days you don’t go around promoting your product, you have to deal with so much Competition from the social web.
    I honestly thought I could make it on Twitter, but you can’t really Keep up, can you?

    We all know that as you upload something on internet, it is officially owned by…. exactly who?
    I used to worry About it, but so many People upload 10x more in a day than what I do in a month. I guess my upload can actually be neglected.

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    1. I’m not sure if you can breathe, because you are making it harder for the plants. They have to work extra hard to produce more oxygen. Plus, have you thought about the people with asthma and other breathing issues? How do you think it makes them feel that you breathe just fine? You are so heartless!

      Nope, I cannot keep up with Twitter. It’s madness. That’s why I do it on my terms and I pace myself. It’s not worth it to add more stress to my life. I already have other things taking up my time.

      Yes, I think that my stuff does not compare to the things other post (every single detail concerning their lives). However, the truth is that my stuff, just like theirs can be mishandled by anyone and I’m not sure if I like my chances.

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      1. As far as I remember my biology classes, isn’t the air that we breathe out the oxygen for the plants?
        You are right, I am terrible selfish with my breathing and stuff.

        I actually really wonder who would find me interesting enough, or even go through the bother of mishandling my posts or pictures.
        And I am considering commiting a crime anyhow, so, should be all ok.

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  6. Hehe, love the sarcasm. I did get a twitter terms and condition update on my inbox – which I didn’t read. The only terms and condition I read thoroughly was amazon’s when I was about to publish my book. And like you, I’m of the mind if you don’t like, don’t buy it. And if a platform bothers me, I stop using it. there are plenty of like minded people who’ll feel the same and do the same without me prompting them to do so. What I mean is that I’m not into the mob mentality kind of thing.

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    1. Oh, I will definitely read all of the fine print once I get on Amazon. I can only imagine how much BS hides in there.

      Great point – people should be able to decide for themselves. I mean, sure, sometimes you should educate/inform them of their options, but banning plantation wedding photos so people won’t book those locations for their party is going way beyond freedom of choice.

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      1. I don’t think reading the amazon fineprints will do any good – unless you decide you no longer want to publish. Well, if anything else, it’ll keep you informed. But if you don’t agree with something, then you won’t publish. It’s either you check the “yes, I agree” or you go somewhere else.

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  7. The “taking of photos at a former plantation” seems problematic. I get, sort of, their point but in that case, there will be no photos of anything from anywhere. As for the EULA, I try to skim them at least in part but for a lot of sites (i.e. Twitter) that’s the “pay to play”. As you said, if it really bothers you, leave the platform. I’m not a fan of a lot of the permissions so I don’t have a lot of “useful” apps. I can’t really reconcile their desire to have access to all parts of my phone and data in exchange for getting a cheaper deal on a bottle of pop.

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    1. It would be another story if they were hiring people to pretend to work at the plantations as the photos would be taken. Otherwise… it’s weird. There’s always someting someone has against something.

      “Pay to play” SO true.

      Yup, that’s a big part of why I don’t really use all that many apps on my phone, either. It’s insane how they require permissions for things that are completely unnecesary for the purpose of the app.

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  8. I pick and choose which app I use. I too received Twitter reminder this week and must delete the app I do not use it anymore so time consuming. I must admit I do skim the terms and changes but usually there is not much in them. I must check more thoroughly. I restrict accesses to information.

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  9. It recently came to light in upstate NY that many houses still had clauses stating they couldn’t be sold to persons of color. Back in the day the Federal Housing Administration enforced segregation efforts by refusing to insure mortgages in and near African-American neighborhoods — aka “redlining.” At the same time, the FHA was subsidizing builders who were mass-producing entire subdivisions for whites — with the requirement that none of the homes be sold to African-Americans.
    These clauses are still on the deeds of thousands of homes? Enforced? Absolutely not – but they haven’t been taken out.
    The plantation issue is a sticky one. People actually live in those houses now. There a lot smaller houses and farms still in use that had slaves. Where do we draw the line? I think sometimes people just look for shit to be offended by.
    What interests me with Pinterest is how do they know if a house/building was a slave plantation? I’ve seen houses on Zillow built in that style (think Tara) they are way newer. Who decides what is what?
    Going back to T&C I read on financial stuff but pretty much that’s all. Twitters T&C are excessive with the exact intention of making people’s eyes glaze over and give up. Total corporate bullshit. I would totally welcome a new law designed to streamline contractual verbiage – and you know how I feel about new laws!

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    1. Interesting about the house claus in NY. It just goes to show that nobody reads those things. I remember having a form for clients at work which was mostly unnecessary and inappropriate for those that we’ve handled. Yes, they questioned me why they had to sign something that did not pertain to them. I was told to tell them some BS story, which didn’t really answer/explain anything. Why? Because no one wanted to actually change/compose a new one. Then, they updated a form and sent it out months before the date on the form. People were asking why they were signing something that would not be in effect for months… They eventually reverted back to the old forms, because those had no date on them. Or had one that was a decade old.

      As for the plantation photos, yes, there will always be someone who is offended about something. Why are some things more important than others, though?

      Good question. One of the articles actually said that it won’t be just plantations, but also other places since people rename those as “manors.”

      I feel like T&C nowadays could be summed up into 1 sentence. “We can do whatever we want with any and everything pertaining to our platform/services/etc.” I mean that’s what it really is. Only nicely worded. People prefer to be killed with kindness instead of handling the raw truth. Why are you willing to die just because the killer smiles as he does the deed?

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  11. And, answering your questions…

    1. I hit accept on phone apps then, go back in and remove permissions. Some apps won’t even work if you remove too many. A Samsung (Android) phone won’t even function properly if you shut off Chrome. I tried to remove it and so many other things wouldn’t work. I did manage to disable Google.

    2. No.

    3. I don’t use Twitter or Pinterest. I never could figure out what to do with them. I will grab images from Pinterest if I like it.

    4. Pinterest didn’t exist when I planned my last wedding.

    5. I could delete my account from FakeBook but, I do use Messenger. If they did something that really pissed me off, I would delete my account, delete Messenger & just text. If WP f**** with me, I will blog somewhere else. I know several bloggers that were terminated by WP over stupid s*** & moved on to another platform.

    6. I think plantations are lovely, esp. Charleston. Anyone that was a slave on them is LONG dead. This “people look at plantations and feel pain” is BULLS***. No one alive, today, was a slave on a plantation. That being sad, we are ALL slaves to the current “work system” but, that is another discussion.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. 1. I do that sometimes, too. Also, while some apps won’t work if you don’t give all permission, some will. It’s almost like they’re trying to see what they can get away with.

      How do you grab images from Pinterest? I can’t seem to be able to open anything because I get a huge pop-up asking for me to register for an account. There seems to be no way to close the window/proceed past it.

      That’s why I backup my WP data whenever I remember so that I can then potentially import it to wherever I move to.

      Your last paragraph made me laugh with sadness. I completely agree. But apparently we are privilaged and have no idea what we are talking about since we are not in their shoes. It really bothers me to see how people claim they feel so much pain about every single little thing. It’s just a technique I believe. Whatever to make people feel sorry for you.

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      1. Pinterest? I don’t get images directly from the site the conventional way. I search for what I am looking for via Bing. Select images at the top. Quite often, Pinterest images show up in the list. Select one. You can get the actual web link to one or, download it. EVERYTHING on the web has a link…visible or not. If something is uploaded, it has a link. Trick is…finding it.

        All of my WP stuff is backed up…four times.

        This victimhood is a learned behavior. It’s like the infant in the crib that learns that, everytime it cries, mommy or daddy come running. Society, in general terms, has a lot to answer for…slavery, racism, sexism, human rights abuses… But, ignoring, burying or rewriting history doesn’t fix the problem. Neither does expecting some privilege from a wrong that took place before you were born. All of this is carefully engineered chaos, meant to make us fight each other.

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  12. The only social media I use is my blog on WP and my cat has an Instagram. I never read terms and conditions. I figure we’re all F’ed so what’s the point. I applaud you Goldie for doing the research and putting together such a great post. As always, I don’t understand when people make such a fuss over certain things. I’m sure if we took a look into their lives we would all find something to be pissed about.

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    1. As others have mentioned before – How do we decide on which issues are important enough to turn into “big deals?” I feel like with the use of social media, every company is afraid of being called intolerant. I think fear is a great motivator. Aside from that, some companies are trying to gain money via those trends. They feel if they appease certain groups, they will get better PR. It’s fear combined with greed.

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  13. No, I do not read terms and conditions very well for these sites. I really don’t use them that much, so it is not a thing I would think about. I think that political correctness can go too far. Give me a break, no wedding pictures taken on plantations? There are so many places that could be offensive to people, where will it end.

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  14. I’m pretty sure almost no-one reads the terms of service. If you’re looking to use something, you’re just not likely to spend, like, 30+ minutes on something that probably won’t even affect you. Probably. Until it does. I wonder if anyone will ever slip a bit of the devil’s fine print in there, and laugh as we begin to inadvertently sign away all our possessions or some such. Of course, that would cause quite the uproar. But if we hit “agree,” can we really argue the outcome?

    And yet… I still can’t find it in myself to go through the whole terms of service…

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    1. People have always looked at me funnily when I would read a paper form that I am to sign. It’s mind boggling how people just don’t care. But now that we get bombarded with those left and right… it lulls us to sleep even more.

      I totally wondered in the past what gets sign unnoticed. I think there actually were some funny examples people overlooked in the past.

      When on paper, I will read through them. When it appears on-screen, my eyes just give out.

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  15. Whole terms and conditions have a page, I really don’t understand how child sexual exploitation is permissable. Perhaps strictly as a survivorship, but not in any way talking about it like it’s acceptable and common in today’s society. And while I can understand the painful history involving plantations, I also see how charming such locations can be, especially for something momentous like a wedding. I think being thoughtful of what that does to others is important, too.

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  17. As someone who recently lost a social messenger app service after being banned for what was a perceived violation of ToS… I have been thinking about these T’s and C’s and how all those private Corp seem to be issuing updated terms, yeah some might be meant to protect and regulate inclusive interaction but they are also a muzzle used to foster a certain type of view….

    It doesn’t help that people are also being all kinds of “woke” and having that cancel culture where we want to deal with what offends our sensibilities by having it banned or cancelled through a collective indignation, social media gives people a sort of hive mentality…
    A celeb gets caught in a racial slur and we want to burn all the music and movies they ever made deleted from the internet And if it were possible that they were never born….

    Interesting thing about the plantations I would say shows an underlying unresolved trauma that needs addressing than just no let’s ban wedding photos on plantations….

    I mean anything can be offensive to anyone, I could be offended by people wearing red because it represents blood shed by our ancestors …..what next let’s ban all photos of people wearing red.

    ~B

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    1. I agree with everything you said. You are so on point. It is truly ridiculous. Instead of trying to overcome whatever the issue, we try to get rid of what we perceive is the problem. That rarely resolves an issue and actually creates new ones.

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  18. I think it’s important to look into those terms and agreements for newer and sketchier things, like when the Face-changing app came out and turned everyone old; it was then discovered that the app was developed in Russia and that by downloading it you agreed that they keep your data (including facial recognition information). Otherwise, I know I personally only skim through them. What a hassle huh.

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    1. Totally. They definitely know what they are doing. Even if you read the T&C the first time, are you going to read it every time they update something? It’s tedious. There is some regulation on it, but for the most part, they really can have you agree to insane things. More often than not, they ask for permissions that go above and beyond the scope of the app/software/etc. Totally unethical, I think. But who heard anything about athics and morals recently?

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  19. Pingback: NROP: #ITakeResponsibility and all that jazz; Ways to make the world a better place. – One day at a time…

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