Mikael Cho has announced that Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images.
Om Malik is concerned about this move and the consequences it might have in the long term.

I was a fan up until last evening when I got an email announcing that the company was being acquired by none other than Getty Images. Hearing this was like a red hot spike through the eyes. A startup whose raison d’être was to upend draconian and amoral companies like Getty Images was going to now be part of Getty. Even after I have had time to process it, the news isn’t sitting well with me.
On the one hand, I am thrilled for Cho and his co-founders. I absolutely love them as founders and human beings. And I am glad they got a good outcome for themselves and the team.
But as a longtime part of the community, selling out to one of the worst digital corporate citizens does feel like a betrayal.
https://om.co/2021/04/01/the-wrong-kind-of-splash/

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/Blogger-Peer-Review/quotebacks@1/quoteback.js
John Johnston also provides an example of Getty’s past practices:

I wonder. My old primary school, Sandaig, had a postcard project. Got postcards from all round the world. Kids took photos of them & posted to postcard blog. Head Teacher got scary bill from Getty as they identified one of the blurry snapshots as theirs. Blog Deleted:-(
@johnjohnston https://johnjohnston.info/blog/14393-2/