Why WeTransfer is no longer safe!

WeTransfer has quietly updated its terms. What does that mean for your photos, videos, and documents? And how do you prevent your content from ending up in an AI model?

The illusion of quick and simple

Just create a link, drag files, and send. For years, WeTransfer was the favorite tool of communication professionals, photographers, and creative teams. But since June 23, 2025, something fundamental has changed. The terms have been updated and if you read carefully, you'll see that you're giving up control over your content.

Your images as training material for AI?

In the updated terms, it literally stated that WeTransfer gives itself a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, and sublicensable license to your files. This license would be used for developing new technologies and improving machine learning models. In other words: your work is used to make their AI better. Without you knowing, and without you choosing it.

That sounds suspiciously like the terms you see on social media. But there you consciously share something with a broad audience. With WeTransfer, you usually send files one-on-one. Nobody expects that something is happening with that data in the background.

After criticism, a friendlier version

After media uproar, the text was rewritten. The AI references disappeared. What remained seems reasonable:

"You hereby grant us a royalty-free license to use your Content for the purposes of operating, developing, and improving the Service…"

On paper it sounds friendlier. Less technical. But in practice, you're still granting a license. And that applies to all WeTransfer services, now and in the future. So also for AI applications, even if it's no longer literally stated there.

The fact remains: such a license is not necessary at all for sending files. WeTransfer doesn't need to read or store your files to get them from A to B. Yet they do ask for these rights. And you grant them automatically as soon as you upload something.

What does this mean for you as a communication advisor or photographer?

You want to maintain control over your content. Not just over how it looks, but also over who uses it and for what purpose. Whether you work with portrait photos, campaign images, or confidential documents: the last thing you want is for someone else to use your work to train a system.

For organizations that take media, privacy, and ownership seriously, this is simply unacceptable.

FileFlow does it differently. Your content always remains yours!

At FileFlow, we believe in control. You determine what happens with your files. We don't ask for rights to your content. And we never use anything for purposes outside your assignment.

FileFlow runs entirely within the European Economic Area. We comply with GDPR and maintain the strictest standards for data security and privacy.

Sharing files without hassle

Via FileFlow, you effortlessly share files with colleagues or external partners, regardless of how much you want to send or how large the files are. Everything remains organized and secure within your own environment. You choose whether to share via the platform or with a download link. You can easily attach an expiration date to such a link, so you maintain full control over access.

Receiving photos from external photographers is also arranged. They can upload in a secured environment within your DAM, without gaining access to other content. This way, everything runs directly through a secure environment and tools like WeTransfer become unnecessary.

No gray areas, but crystal-clear agreements

The change in WeTransfer's terms shows how vulnerable you are when you trust tools that seem too good to be true. At FileFlow, you know exactly what to expect. No vague clauses. No AI training with your images. No surprises.

You remain the owner. You maintain control. Always.

Curious how that looks in practice?

Schedule a no-obligation demo and discover how FileFlow makes your work safer, easier, and more organized.

Written by

Lyno Spätjens

I help communication and marketing departments work more efficiently and especially more easily. I focus on saving valuable time and increasing productivity.

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