How Influencers Navigate Copyright Regulations
Meet Queen Chioma:
Queen Chioma is a prominent YouTube personality with 246K subscribers on YouTube, covering everything from relationships to pop culture in her commentary, ranging from podcast-style videos like "Chioma Chats" to 'Get Ready With Me,' Q&A sessions, unpopular opinions, and vlogging. She joined YouTube in 2014 and later started her own modeling agency and is building her career as a rapper.
Introduction to Copyrights
Influencers must navigate copyright laws and the rules of various social media platforms when they create and post content for their followers. We will be focusing on content creators' experiences across all platforms and how copyright regulations may affect their content production. We have interviewed several social media influencers and experts to understand how the law and rules on social media platforms affect the final product users receive.
The complications may vary, especially with cross-platform creators and international content. Understanding copyright laws is essential for influencers to navigate the legal landscape and protect their work. From original photographs and videos to collaborations and endorsements with other artists and brands, influencers encounter various copyright-related challenges and considerations in their day-to-day activities.
What Exactly Are Copyrights?
“Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. [It covers] different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works,and plays” (Copyright.gov).
Copyright laws entitle creators to exclusive rights that are protected for 70 years after his or her death in the United States. These six exclusive rights include; reproduction, distribution, public performance and display, digital transmission rights, and the ability to create derivative works. It’s important to know that a work doesn’t need to be registered with the Copyright Office to be recognized as somebody’s creative work. Official registration just makes it easier to assert copyrights in a court of law. “A work is fixed when it is captured (either by or under the authority of an author) in a sufficiently permanent medium such that the work can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated for more than a short time. For example, a work is fixed when you write it down or record it.” (Copyright.gov). Copyrights give copyright owners control over how their works are used and distributed, allowing them to benefit financially from their creations and protect their artistic individuality, uniqueness and intellectual property.
Why are Guidelines so Rigid?
In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides protection for online service providers from liabilities that could arise from copyright infringement acts committed by users. But this is under provisions that the platform promptly removes infringing content upon notification and prevent infringers from profiting off copied work. A clause in this act permits content use under the guise of “fair use.” Content fair use is described in situations in which copyrighted works are used for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, and research. It is interesting to think that even though many platforms permit the use of copyrighted material under the clause of fair use, many creators have received copyright strikes anyway. It is reasonable to think online service providers would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to leaving up content that could make them liable in an infringement case.
The Difference between Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
Though plagiarism and copyright infringement are related concepts, they do differ in scope and legal implications. Plagiarism occurs when presenting someone else's identical work, ideas, or expressions as your own without proper attribution often in an academic context. Copyright infringement occurs when anyone exercises without permission one of the six exclusive rights of the copyright owner. As a reminder, these protected rights are reproduction, distribution, public performance and display, digital transmission rights, and the ability to create derivative works.
Copyright on TikTok
TikTok tries to implement similar strategies as many other platforms but is often deemed more relaxed than YouTube. They provide users with tools to report copyright infringement. If a user believes their copyrighted content has been used without permission, they can submit a report to TikTok for review. TikTok makes it really easy for users to file Infringement reports on videos with the ellipses icon holding the report button. Following these steps will take you to this link.
Additionally, TikTok utilizes content recognition technology to identify and remove copyrighted material. This technology scans uploaded videos for matches against a database of copyrighted content provided by rights holders. TikTok also has policies in place to address copyright infringement, and users who violate these policies may face consequences such as content removal or account suspension. Overall, TikTok seems to successfully balance the interests of content creators and copyright holders.
Copyright on Instagram
Instagram implements several measures to regulate copyright laws on its platform. Users can report copyright infringement through Instagram's reporting tools, enabling them to alert the platform about unauthorized use of their copyrighted content. In order to report Instagram posts that may go against their copyright guidelines the process is pretty straightforward. Click on the “more” icon that looks like a horizontal icon and then click report and then IP violations following the steps will take you to this page where you can learn about IP guidelines and find out which form to fill out.
Instagram’s content recognition technology is similar in concept to YouTube's Content ID system, which scans uploaded content for matches against a database of copyrighted material provided by rights holders. Instagram also provides users with an appeals process, allowing them to challenge content removals or copyright claims if they believe their content was unjustly targeted and reported. Unlike YouTube, Instagram has the “remix feature.” Where creators enable the remix creature on their post, it allows other users to use someone else’s content to create derived content and tags the original creators name and content in the video. Through these mechanisms, Instagram aims to protect the intellectual property rights of content creators and ensure the proper use of copyrighted material on its platform.
Copyright on YouTube
To regulate and protect the copyrighted works of creators on their platform, YouTube regulates copyright laws on its platform in many ways. The first way is through violation reports filed by users of the platform. If anyone is able to identify content being used incorrectly or without permission they can submit a copyright removal request by following the steps provided here.
The second way is via YouTube’s Content ID system, which automatically scans uploaded content against a database of copyrighted material to identify potential infringement. Copyright owners can then choose to monetize, track, or block videos containing their content. And the third way is that YouTube enforces a copyright strike system, where repeat offenses can result in penalties such as demonetization or channel termination. These measures aim to enforce copyright laws, providing methods for both copyright owners to protect their content and creators to defend against wrongful claims.
This disparity in protected rights are not an arbitrary. The varying rights content creators and users have on different social media platforms is due to the terms and conditions that users agree to on different platforms. For example, the only reason “stitching” is lawful on TikTok and not a violation of a creator’s copyrights is because TikTok provides users with the ability to set permissions on who is allowed to stitch your content.
In conclusion, copyright laws play a vital role in protecting intellectual property but also present challenges for content creators, especially in the ever-changing landscape of social media. As influencers navigate these complexities, it's essential to stay informed about copyright regulations. By striking a balance between protection and innovation, influencers can continue to thrive while respecting the rights of users and copyright holders.
References
Photo courtesy of Queen Chioma
U.S. Copyright Office “What is Copyright?” Copyright.Gov, 2015.
Ghosh, Swarnali. "Plagiarism: A Saviour or an Annihilator?" International Journal of Law and Legal Jurisprudence Studies, 2017.
Lin, Yu-Chen. "Influencers on Instagram: Navigating the Copyright Minefield." Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, 2020.
Litman, Jessica. “Digital Copyright.” Oxford University Press, 2018.
Rachel, Kim. “How Is Fashion Protected by Copyright Law?” Copyright Alliance, 2022.
Rosen, Rebecca. "Copyright in the Age of YouTube: Balancing the Rights of Creators and Users." Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 2019.
USPTO. “Copyright Basics” Office of Policy and International Affairs, 2018