I want to add that “Unsplash this month launched a new ad product for brands. Advertisers can share branded images on Unsplash that capture their brand goals, and the images then appear promoted in Unsplash feeds and under relevant searches. Luke Chesser, Cofounder & Head of Product of Unsplash, wrote that the branded images are then downloaded and used by creators reaching an audience of over 300 million people each month. (…) Google, Harley-Davidson, Square, Boxed Water, Le Creuset, and Timberland were the first advertisers to take part in the Unsplash for Brand.” (https://ppc.land/unsplash-launches-a-new-native-ad-product-for-brands/)

They’re going down the slippery slope of trades and that’s why I think we should put them in the “rejected” category.

Despite a bunch of trackers on their website, they seem to be genuine and want to offer completely free photos for anyone to use anywhere. This is their license https://unsplash.com/license:

“All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.”

And here you can read their manifesto https://unsplash.com/manifesto

However they also put 1 or so images as “sponsored” in their search. I would still think this is a valuable trade-free image directory and they do not seem very pushy with the sponsored content. But I don’t know….they alter the content itself….

Although they do provide trade-free images, the website through they do so has some ad/trackers here and there for various purposes + in the searches they promote some sponsored images. But overall they do provide trade-free images.