The popular social network is showing third-party widget makers—and its users—who really decides what content gets added to pagesLate on Apr. 10, photo-sharing site Photobucket began receiving complaints from users that slide shows and videos they had created with Photobucket tools and posted on their MySpace accounts were not working. At first, Photobucket Chief Executive Alex Welch figured it was just a glitch. But when video remained missing through the following morning, Welch knew something was amiss.
Turns out MySpace had blocked the content, saying Photobucket violated its terms of use by encouraging users to embed ad-supported slide shows in their MySpace pages. "MySpace allows its users to embed video, slide shows, and other features from third parties so long as they comply with our terms of service," MySpace said in a statement. "We spoke to the company about their actions, but they refused to respect our community's terms, and we had no choice but to disable their service."
Photobucket's Welch maintains that neither he nor any senior manager on his staff was contacted by MySpace. "I don't know what their motivation is," Welch says. "In general it goes back to brands wanting to interact with users, but it's the user who has really chosen this route. And they don't think it's fair for that outlet to now be taken away from them, and neither do we."
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