Microblogging picture posting service Twitpic has apologised to its users after seemingly claiming copyright on every images its users upload.

A row stemmed over photographs uploaded to Twitpic following changes made to the service’s terms on May 10^th.

This sparked many users to cancel their Twitpic accounts as the changes implied the picture service was claiming the rights to sell pictures without permission.

Twitpic’s defence was to say the new rules were intended to protect users uploads from being used by the media.

Twitpic have sinced stressed that account holders continue to own the copyright on their uploaded work.  However, when signing up to Twitpic, users agree to let the service distribute their images to company partners.

Following the change in terms, hashtags #twitpic and #delete soon trended on Twitter.