The Dallas Observer recently quoted Bell Nunnally attorney Brent A. Turman in an article titled, “A Dallas Boutique Hotel Asks Guests to Untag Them in Photos. Does It Have the Right?” The piece details a dispute between the Lorenzo Hotel in Dallas and a guest, where the guest had a photographer take professional photos of her and tagged the hotel on Instagram. The hotel asked that the tag be removed because the content of these pictures did not align with the hotel’s desired public image.

Turman commented that in an era where most everyone carries a smartphone with a camera at all times and popular social media platforms revolve around user-generated pictures, “The lines have been blurred between what is public and what is private.” This dynamic means that customers taking and tagging pictures may be unknowingly violating a business’ terms and conditions or a social media platform’s terms of use.

Turman explains that if the guest hadn’t removed the photo from Instagram, the Lorenzo Hotel owner could flag the post “as long as it has a good faith belief that the post doesn’t comply with the social media standards or terms of use.” Further, had the guest refused to comply, the hotel could have protected its rights through litigation.