When you lose trust in a brand you love: Adobe’s Terms and Conditions Fail
Last month, we attended the Adobe Max event in London, where the potential for generative AI advancements blew us away. I have been using Adobe products and services for my entire career and have strongly advocated using them against simpler platforms that have emerged since. I have also invested time and money in staff training to ensure a solid foundation of filmmaking skills. As creatives, we’ve always trusted Adobe’s tools, which we use daily, like Premiere Pro, Audition and Photoshop, to deliver our luxury production services.
Yet, Adobe recently overhauled its terms of service, which served as a wake-up call to the entire creative community.
As a business owner with a passion for cybersecurity, particularly data privacy, I was pleased to see the creative community’s and mainstream media’s reaction. It demonstrates that more people are paying attention to problematic terms and conditions and holding companies accountable.
What happened?
In February 2024, Adobe quietly updated its terms of service, a decision that went largely unnoticed until June, when a more rigorous re-acceptance was enforced. This re-acceptance highlighted the language of these terms, which many interpreted as giving Adobe rights to access, use, and even distribute their content, raising significant privacy and intellectual property concerns.
Implications for Creatives
For high-profile platform users like filmmakers and those of us offering professional business services, our work often involves sensitive client data protected by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Adobe is potentially using data and it rings alarm bells in case of breaches of confidentiality and the misuse of intellectual property. Many creatives have been particularly vocal about these risks. Movie director Duncan Jones and Designers Wetterschneider and Sasha Yanshin, to name a few, have been urging creators to cancel their subscriptions if they are under NDAs and even calling for a boycott of Adobe’s products after the changes were strongly criticised.
Next steps
In the wake of the backlash, Adobe has taken to social media to clarify its approach. They explain that they have not included user content to train their generative AI, Adobe Firefly and that the permissions are necessary to improve their services. Whilst this is reassuring, they do not address the underlying concerns about our intellectual property rights and privacy concerns as creators. We will continue to closely monitor how Adobe handles this situation in the coming weeks. It’s imperative that they address these concerns comprehensively, not just through statements but actionable changes.
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This incident underscores the need for greater transparency and user involvement when companies update their terms of service. This means making the terms clear and user-friendly. This is a pivotal moment, and Adobe must listen to its users and actively engage with them to shape policies that protect our rights while allowing technological innovation.
While Adobe’s tools remain invaluable, it’s clear that trust between the company and its users needs rebuilding. Adobe is among the three essential tools I love for my business, alongside Apple and Canva, and this has made me reflect on loyalty to brands in our fast-paced digital world.
As we navigate this new landscape, our focus will continue to be on safeguarding our clients’ data and delivering high-quality content, even if that means reconsidering the tools we use to do so.
“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair”- Dhar Mann.
ALICE
I founded Alice Violet Creative to help technical and cybersecurity brands cut through complexity with sharp, engaging content. With 15 years of experience spanning luxury travel and cybersecurity, I’ve gone from hands-on content production to leading a growing team, shaping strategy, and driving impactful storytelling.
I’m passionate about building communities and sharing knowledge. You’ll often find me speaking at industry events, mentoring professionals, or collaborating in Cheltenham’s creative spaces—always looking for ways to push boundaries and elevate brand storytelling.
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