Instagram caused a major uproar online today with the announcement of their new terms and conditions. When you have thousands of celebrity users in addition to the general public it probably isn’t a good idea to change your terms and conditions to read “to help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

The new policy seemed to indicate that instagram could sell photos to be used in advertisement without permission from or compensation to users. You can imagine this would not sit well with most celebrities and photographers who make millions of dollars from the licensing of their images. Not to mention the average user who does not want his or her face associated with any advertiser without explicit permission. Or pay.

Reaction to the news was fast and furious across the web. Celebs were especially vocal, with several threatening to delete their instagram accounts. Actresses Kate Walsh and Tiffani Theissen, Model Tyson Beckford and Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke were among the first to react to the news and voiced their dissatisfaction on another social media site- twitter. Tiffani tweeted “Really sad to have to end my luv 4 @instagram. Will be deleting my account due 2 their ridiculous new terms.” Burke, Beckford and Walsh also sent out similar tweets.

Instagram has gone into panic mode co-founder Kevin Systrom issued a statement that can be read in its entirety here http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank-you-and-were-listening.

Systrom assures instagram users that their photographs will not be used in any sort of advertising and will not be sold to third parties without compensation and he is working to revise the terms and conditions so they are less confusing to users. The new terms of service take effect terms of service that kick in Jan. 16.