An update to one of the world’s most popular image sharing websites has caused product images on Amazon, eBay, Gumtree, Etsy, and several other online marketplaces to go down.
Photobucket, an image and video sharing website based in the United States, updated its user policies last month to prevent its users from hotlinking their images on third party websites like Amazon, eBay and Gumtree, with changes going into force today (July 6).
Members who have used the free service to store and share their content will now need to upgrade to a $400 annual plan if they want their images to remain live on third-party websites. Alternatively, they can opt to pay $39.99 a month for the hotlinking service.
The changes to the company’s terms and conditions now mean that more than ten years worth of images now appear as broken on third party websites. Reports suggest that more than 25 billion images have been affected.
Wow! @photobucket have just made this image the most common in the internet – 25 billion impressions according to Google Image Search! #FAIL pic.twitter.com/Vs8mldSZmP
— Andy Tyler (@ticarpi) July 6, 2017
Its users, many of whom are online sellers, have condemned the changes and demanded that Photobucket reverts the changes to give them time to make a switch.
Photobucket has yet to apologise for the changes, instead thanking users for their feedback and confirming that they’ll respond to questions as quickly as they can.
⚠️ Thank you for all of the recent feedback and questions. We are trying our best to respond quickly and thank you for your patience :)
— Photobucket (@photobucket) July 1, 2017
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