EyeEm, the bankrupt photo sharing network acquired by Freepik last year, will license users' photos to train AI if the images are not deleted within 30 days
EyeEm, the Berlin-based photo-sharing community that exited last year to Spanish company Freepik after going bankrupt, is now licensing its users' photos to train AI models. Threads: @martinsfp . Mastodon: @o_simardcasanova … . X: @haje . Forums: Slashdot Threads: @martinsfp : I have some happy anecdotes about the early days of EyeEm. Sad to see it end like this.. Time to see if I can log into my account for the first time in years. Mastodon: Olivier Simard-Casanova / @o_simardcasanova … : Do you have an account on #photography platform #EyeEm? — If so, you should know that it plans to sell your photos to train #AI models. — And the only way to opt out is to delete the photos. A long and tedious process, which questions the honesty of EyeEm's approach. — https://techcrunch.com/... X: @haje : Remember @EyeEm, the ‘Instagram of Europe’? Well, they're now hustling your cherished snaps to educate their AI buddies, @SarahPerezTC reports for @TechCrunch. Opt-out or erase in 30 days...or don't, we know you adore unexpected plot twists! https://techcrunch.com/... Forums: BeauHD / Slashdot : EyeEm Will License Users' Photos To Train AI If They Don't Delete Them
Context & Ripple Effects
EyeEm was built around photographers being able to earn from their images, including its earlier funding as a paid-photo marketplace. Its bankruptcy and subsequent acquisition by Freepik now place that archive under a new commercial use case.
The move echoes a prior pivot in which photo-storage service Ever used stored images to support facial-recognition technology, showing how image libraries can become AI-training assets after their original consumer purpose changes.
First-order effects
- EyeEm users have a 30-day window to delete images if they do not want those photos licensed for AI training; inactive accounts are especially exposed to the default outcome.
- Freepik gains a route to commercialize EyeEm’s existing image archive for model training, rather than relying solely on the platform’s former marketplace model.
Second-order effects
- Photographers must weigh the cost of deleting portfolios against allowing a new downstream use of their work, potentially reducing the usable archive available to EyeEm and Freepik.
- Other image-hosting and creator platforms face greater pressure to make AI-training terms, opt-outs and account-notification practices conspicuous as users scrutinize legacy uploads.
Third-order effects
- The case reinforces a shift in which distressed or mature consumer platforms can be valued partly for the training data embedded in their archives, not just their active communities or subscription revenue.
- If opt-out-by-deletion becomes common, disputes over meaningful consent and control of previously uploaded creative work are likely to become a central constraint on AI content commercialization.
The trend: Consumer image archives are increasingly being repurposed as licensable AI-training inputs when platforms seek new ways to monetize legacy content.