If you’re a digital artist, content creator, or anyone who sends creative and sensitive files online, you might want to stop using WeTransfer. It may have been a convenient tool once, but as of August 8, 2025, using it could mean giving up more than you think.
What Is WeTransfer Used For?
WeTransfer is a file-sharing platform that makes it easy to send large files of up to 2 GB for free, or more with a paid plan. It’s popular among creatives because it doesn’t require registration and has a simple, drag-and-drop interface. You upload a file, pop in an email address, and send it off. Done.
For years, artists and clients alike have used it to deliver everything from design mockups and illustration commissions to music, videos, and photos.
Very simple and straight-forward. The problem is, though… Every time you upload something to a service like WeTransfer, you’re trusting that company not to do anything shady with your files. Which… is no longer the case.
What’s Changing on August 8, 2025?
WeTransfer updated their Terms of Service, and it’s bad. Really bad.
Starting August 8, WeTransfer claims a royalty-free, perpetual, transferable license to use, reproduce, and develop its services using your content. That includes training AI models on it.
Let that sink in: they can train AI with your art, videos, commissions – basically anything you upload – without your consent or compensation.
While the terms were updated following criticism, the platform still retains broad rights over your content. Their new phrasing says your content can be used “for the operation, development, and improvement of our services,” which is deliberately vague. What those services are now or in the future? We don’t know. That’s the problem.
This isn’t a small tweak. It’s part of a much broader trend: companies grabbing user data and creative content for AI development because they think they can get away with it. With Meta deploying millions of AI bots on Facebook and Instagram, and now resuming training its AI models using the real user data of European users, the message is clear: if they can take it, they will. From Meta to Microsoft, we’re seeing this happen everywhere.
Why This Is a Problem for Artists
If you’re handling commissions, client work, or even just original characters (OCs) that people have paid you to draw, you have a responsibility to protect that content. Using a service that might silently hand your files over to train AI systems is a huge violation of trust. Don’t underestimate what’s hidden in the fine print of the tools you use every day.
This isn’t just about paranoia. It’s about boundaries. Creative work should not be swallowed up by corporations because of a single file transfer.
Yes, AI scraping is already happening across the internet. But that doesn’t mean we should hand them our art on a silver platter.
What I Personally Do
I haven’t used WeTransfer in years. Instead, I upload files to a temporary folder on my own webhost and delete them after a week or two. It’s simple, controlled, and no third-party service gets to poke around in my data.
I get that not everyone has their own hosting, but even cloud tools like Proton Drive or Wormhole give you better control than what WeTransfer offers now. At least, so I’ve heard. I don’t use such services (for sensitive files/files I care about) so I can’t give you informed advice on alternatives to WeTransfer.
Final Thoughts
More and more companies are jumping on the AI gold rush, unfortunately. We might not be able to stop AI scraping completely, but we can choose where we upload our files and who we trust with them.
So yeah. If you’re still using WeTransfer… maybe stop.
