WeTransfer walks back clause that said it would train AI on your files

File sharing site WeTransfer has rolled back language that allowed it to train machine learning models on any files that its users uploaded. The change was made after criticisms from its users.

The company had quietly inserted the new language in the terms and conditions on its website. Sometime after July 2, it updated clause 6.3 of the document to include this claim:

“You hereby grant us a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license to use your 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 process, in accordance with the Privacy & Cookie Policy.”

In short, if you upload a document, WeTransfer would be able to train AI on it. The company could also license that content to other people, and could do these things forever.

The license would also include “the right to reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, broadcast, communicate to the public, publicly display, and perform Content,” the language said, adding that users wouldn’t be paid for any of this.

You can view the offending text on the Wayback Machine, which archives snapshots of documents online.

WeTransfer displayed this version of the text on July 14. However, today the text simply reads:

“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.”

The company told the BBC that it had changed the clause “as we’ve seen this passage may have caused confusion for our customers.” It is not using AI to process content and doesn’t sell content to third parties, it added.

One studio manager posting on Reddit said that they had told their staff not to use the service anymore when they learned of the original policy change.

“Its crazy how WeTransfer is trying to tell us we ‘misunderstood’ them saying ‘perpetual license to distribute’,” they said. “I’m glad they changed the clause at least despite playing dumb.”

So what options exist for WeTransfer users still worried about the company’s motives? The best tip is to encrypt your content before uploading it. You can zip your file and password protect it, sending the password to the file’s recipient via another secure channel.

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