The utilitarian theory of ethics takes a look at the consequences a decision will have, and makes a choice based on the one which has the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of individuals. This theory wants to know “which act creates the best consequence” (Lecture, Week 15). The three key principles that are tied to applying the utilitarian theory include: who will be impacted by the decision made or not made, performing a cost-benefit analysis for said individuals, and choosing the option that has the least harm for the least amount of people. The utilitarian approach overall wants to consider “the good that will come from the action or the harm it will prevent” (Santa, 2014).

When it comes to Instagram’s privacy policy, I believe that it would not be in the best favor of the greater good of those impacted for users’ content and information to be sold to third parties. The individuals who will be impacted by Instagram’s decision are users, Instagram, and the third parties who want to purchase information and content. If Instagram were to sell content to third parties then:

• Users cost- No rights to their own content posted.
• Users benefit- The potential to have their work seen by more people.
• Instagram cost- Distrusted by users. People go to a different platform
• Instagram benefit- More income from selling of content.
• 3rd party cost- Possible to be sued by Instagram users.
• 3rd party benefit- The use of materials for relatively low costs.

Based on the cost-benefit analysis above, the costs of the decision to sell content greatly outweigh the benefits. If Instagram were to lose its users because of the change in the privacy policy, then the entire platform would crumble as its users is the heart of what Instagram is.