Twitter is now taking down tweets that are confirmed to be stolen jokes from other accounts. Several tweets have been taken down on copyright grounds with a “Tweet withheld” notice linking to the sites policy on DMCA take-down notices.
The tweets that are withheld copied this joke:
Olga Lexell is a freelance writer and was traced as the original person to make this tweet, she confirmed on Twitter that she filed a request to have the copycat tweets taken down.
“For everyone asking, I simply explained to Twitter that as a freelance writer I make my living writing jokes (and I use some of my tweets to test out jokes in my other writing). I then explained that as such, the jokes are my intellectual property, and that the users in question did not have my permission to repost them without giving me credit,” Ms Lexell tweeted in a post Monday.
Twitter’s copyright takedown policy page says: “Twitter will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, such as allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted image as a profile photo, header photo, or background, allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted video or image uploaded through our media hosting services, or Tweets containing links to allegedly infringing materials. Note that not all unauthorized uses of copyrighted materials are infringements.”
The users who received takedown notices have 10 days in which to appeal the takedown.
Local comedian Lauren Bok said while Twitter is a great place for writers to get their jokes out there, it is always a risk that people may steal your content.
“Twitter is handy as it gives you a timestamp and an automatic authorship of your work – nothing like being able to have a bit of evidence. But because of the murkiness of the Internet, something can very easily be taken from you, and you don’t even realise it,” Ms Bok said.
Some writers are calling out accounts that steal their content, recently comedy writer and IGN producer Brian Altano publicly struck out at thieves of one of his jokes which was shared over 10 Twitter accounts with 500,000 subscribers without accrediting him.
Theft of content and work appropriated without credit has been happening for a long time on social media, the issue has been divisive among users and creators.
“There is no way to control the Internet; any attempts are laughable, if you pardon the pun. The next day or week the cycle moves on – topical humour has a very short expiry date,” Ms Bok said.
“Comedy is a commodity and there’s always going to be leechers. Unfortunately, with social media, this can be done in even sneakier ways than ever. It’s not on, but it’s like trying to catch smoke.”
With Twitter actively responding to claims on infringing material there are more options for content writers to protect their work should they choose.
