Equity has secured protections and assurances from WeTransfer following platform updates which alarmed many performers in relation to the security of their performance data. The company - widely used by performers for self-tape auditions and other work matters - has now confirmed to Equity that they “have never sold, do not sell, and will never sell” customer content to anyone. WeTransfer also confirmed that they are not currently using any customer data for AI or machine learning.
On 15 July, we were contacted by several Equity members who had heard about planned changes to WeTransfer’s Terms of Service. WeTransfer is a file-sharing service that many of our members rely on for their work.
People were rightly worried about the new terms, which included: “a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license” for which members would not be entitled to compensation. Of particular concern was the inclusion of language relating to AI, in which WeTransfer could use our members’ content in order to “improve machine learning models.”
We immediately contacted WeTransfer to express the union’s concerns and demand clarity. They shared with us their blog post intending to reassure their customers, in which the company stated that because the planned changes “may have been unclear,” they had made adjustments. The relevant clause now reads:
6.3. License to WeTransfer. In order to allow us to operate, provide you with, and improve the Service and our technologies, we must obtain from you certain rights related to Content that is covered by intellectual property rights. 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.
While this new clause appears considerably narrower and no longer mentions machine learning, we were not entirely reassured, particularly regarding the company’s future intentions. After several exchanges with WeTransfer, in which we sought assurances on behalf of our members, the company stated that they “have never sold, do not sell, and will never sell” customer content to anyone. On the topic of machine learning and other forms of AI, WeTransfer stated that they are not currently using these systems to process content shared via WeTransfer – not even to improve content moderation. In the future, should they consider training AI models with customer content, they stated that they will first ask for permission.
Though it looks like the changes have been defeated for now, Equity will continue to monitor companies like WeTransfer in order to defend our members’ rights. Thank you to all those who brought this to our attention.
