(I took too long to write this reply and this has already been pointed out, but:)
Most people on iNat probably don’t know that they’re doing that—like you. All your observations are “all rights reserved” right now.
People who create a new account are shown this checkbox (at least this is how it looks on the web version):
If you leave it checked, your observations and photos will be CC-BY-NC. This lets them go to GBIF.
If you leave it unchecked, they stay “all rights reserved,” so no one can use them without your permission. Except, of course, iNaturalist itself, as described in the Terms of Use (paragraph starting with “By submitting Content to iNaturalist for inclusion on the Platform, You grant iNaturalist …”)
Neither of those two options let your photos be used on Wikipedia, or in YouTube videos (see above in the thread). Based on what you’ve said above, you probably want to change the license you use. In the web version, your options for default licenses are in Account Settings > Content & Display > Licensing. There are checkboxes to also change the licenses on all the stuff you’ve already uploaded.
For extra confusion, there are separate options for observations, photos, and sounds. If you change the license only on your observations, that doesn’t let people use your photos.
Further reading:
- A Case for Changing the Default License (to not include a NC clause) - a 120-post forum thread from Dec 2020-Feb 2021, which has plenty of discussion and explanation of why CC-BY-NC is problematic, and @tiwane’s Dec 2020 explanation of why it’s still the default anyway.
- Preliminary Findings from a Qualitative Study on iNaturalist Users License Choices Show There is a Substantial Portion of iNaturalist Users Who Have “All Rights Reserved” by Mistake - 58-post forum thread from Jun-Jul 2024
- lots of other forum threads