Does Facebook have rights to stuff I host myself but link to?

Question

I never post pictures to FB directly anymore, but instead host them on my own domain and link to them on FB.

Same goes for blog posts.

Does FB have the same rights to linked content that they do if it's been uploaded to their servers? I couldn't find any info about this on their help pages.

Answer 1

According to Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities:

you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook

(Emphasis added.)

It looks like they're laying claim to not only the content that you're posting on Facebook but also content you link to. IANAL but I doubt that this would hold up in court.

The only licence you've granted is one to the link itself, not the link's target. Reading it any other way would suggest that by linking to google.com you'd be granting Facebook the same licence to Google's content, which is ridiculous.

The agreement further states:

This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

Given that the only shareable content posted on Facebook is the link, it's reasonable to argue that if you were to delete your account (or even just the link) then the licence would be terminated.

If someone else follows your link and posts the photos themselves then odds are they've breached both your local copyright act and Facebook's ToS. You could have Facebook remove the content but you'd have to take action against them directly if you wanted damages.

Answer 2

Their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says:

Sharing Your Content and Information

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.

So probably yes, they have the same rights regardless of the content you post.