Instafollowers shut down
Dear users,
I have been offering a free service for a long time, yesterday I received the mail below that tells me in no unclear terms I need to stop. The service therefore is discontinued as of today, all social media account data will be erased.
Those few clients who paid for a professional package will be refunded their last month.
I have not made money on this, the cost of maintaining the server was higher than the income from paying customers.
I always understood this as a community service, not a big business. Alas, no longer.
Thank you for all your time and tips and questions, for engaging.
I wish you the very best for your
social media activities in the future.
As for me, I will spend my time with Tik Tok and Mastodon now…
Wolfgang
VIA EMAIL
To 4 email addresses and postal address
Re: Cease and Desist Abuse of Meta – Instafollowers.wtf
|
December 14, 2022 |
Gregory J. Mina D. +503.727.2078 F. +503.346.2078 |
Dear Mr. xxx:
We represent Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta,” previously known as Facebook, Inc.), based in Menlo Park, California, U.S.A. Meta operates, among other products, Instagram. Meta has gathered evidence that your service, “Instafollowers.wtf”, improperly facilitates unauthorized functionality on Instagram. Specifically, your service impermissibly displays and collects user data such as profiles, posts, stories, and direct messages from Instagram. Your service also enables automated access to Instagram, permitting users to schedule the publication of posts and stories to Instagram, as well as send direct messages. Your service also impermissibly makes use of Meta’s trademarks. These activities violate Meta’s and Instagram’s terms.
Meta demands that you stop this activity immediately.
Meta takes the protection of the user experience very seriously, and it is committed to keeping its products safe for users to interact and share information. Meta has developed terms and policies to protect the user experience and facilitate these goals.
Meta’s and Instagram’s terms prohibit, among other things:
• Using Instagram to do anything unlawful, misleading, or fraudulent, or for an illegal or unauthorized purpose;
• Accessing or collecting users’ content or information via automated means without Meta’s prior permission;
• Soliciting, collecting, or storing user credentials;
• Impairing the intended operation of Instagram;
• Facilitating or encouraging others to violate terms; and
• Using Instagram trademarks, or any confusingly similar marks, except as expressly permitted by the Brand Usage Guidelines or without Meta’s prior written permission.
See Meta’s Terms of Service, https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms; Instagram’s Terms of Use, http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/.
Meta has taken technical steps to deactivate your Facebook and Instagram accounts, and hereby revokes your limited licenses to access Facebook and Instagram. This means that you, your agents, employees, affiliates, or anyone acting on your behalf (“You” or “Your”) may not access the Facebook or Instagram websites, mobile applications, Platforms, services, or networks for any reason whatsoever. Meta will treat any further activity by You on its websites, mobile applications, Platforms, services or networks as intentional and unauthorized access to its protected computer networks.
Please respond to me WITHIN 48 hours confirming that You:
● Have stopped and will not in the future access the Facebook and Instagram websites and/or use Facebook’s and Instagram’s services for any reason whatsoever;
● Have preserved and will continue to preserve in the future all information related to the activities described herein;
Have stopped and will not in the future offer, transfer, market, sell or offer to sell any services related to Instagram;
● Agree not to use or apply to register in the future, any marks that incorporate the components of the INSTAGRAM mark (“INSTA,” “GRAM,” or any other Instagram logo or branding elements) or are similar to INSTAGRAM;
● Will account for and disgorge any and all revenue earned from your unauthorized activities related to Instagram;
● Have shut down all websites you operate that are used to sell Instagram services, and have removed all advertisements or postings on external websites advertising or describing Instagram services;
● Will, following the accounting required below, and only after receiving a specific instruction from me, delete all data obtained from Facebook and Instagram; and
● Will enter into a written agreement memorializing your commitment to compliance with the demands in this letter.
Along with Your response, You must provide the following information:
● A complete list of each and every product you created that targets Instagram users and/or interacts with Instagram services;
● A complete accounting all compensation or revenue received by You in connection with your unauthorized services;
● A detailed description of the methods You used to obtain data from Instagram, or any other Meta affiliated companies;
● A complete list of domain names that You own, maintain, or control presently, along with all domain names that You have previously used to offer Instagram services;
● A detailed description of the methods used to automate Instagram functionality and provide Meta-related services, including a full list of all apps or APIs that You utilized or developed;
● A copy of each and every version of any software code You have developed or used to interact with the Meta websites and/or services, including any libraries, frameworks, or other code, and the source for that code if not Your own development; and
● A complete accounting of all data that You obtained from Instagram.
If you ignore this letter and continue your current improper conduct, Meta will take whatever measures it believes are necessary to enforce its rights, maintain the quality of its websites, and protect users’ information and privacy.
This letter is not intended by us, and should not be construed by you, as a waiver or relinquishment of any of Meta’s rights or remedies in this matter. Meta specifically reserves all such rights and remedies whether at law or in equity, under applicable domestic and foreign laws.
Sincerely,
Gregory J. Mina