Can You Copyright a Social Media Post?

In today's digital economy, social media has created a platform where individual creators or companies can share their creative works and other products with a global audience. Creatives utilize effective digital techniques and strategic content creation to stay ahead of the competition.

However, with the abundant likes, comments, and shares comes the constant threat of infringement and piracy, begging the question, can you copyright a social media post?

This article covers the basics of copyrighting and how it applies to social media posts while exploring the laws governing content shared online.

Understanding copyrights

The USPTO defines copyright as a form of intellectual property (IP) that protects original works of authorship. Authors, artists, or companies may copyright literary works such as books, art, or music. To be copyrightable, a work must be original and possess a minimum degree of creativity. It also must be presented in a tangible form of expression.

How copyright works on social media posts

To determine whether a post is copyrightable, you must first understand what can be protected. Is the content original? Does it possess a level of creativity? Therefore, the nature of content shared is critical in establishing what can be copyrighted.

1. Text-based content: Are you sharing short statements or status updates online? These may not be copyrightable as they might lack sufficient creativity. However, sharing a series of original tweets that form creative, cohesive work or a blog post on your social media pages could be copyrightable.

2. Images and videos: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are the largest video-sharing platforms in the world. Original videos and images shared on these websites are copyrightable. For instance, if you went hiking in Griffith Park and took a stunning panoramic photo of Los Angeles, you could prevent others from using the material for commerce through advertisements or marketing. Nature images and videos, original music videos, and sports stock images and videos are some of the materials shareable on social media that you can copyright.

3. Artwork and graphics: Social media provides a perfect avenue for artists and other creatives to showcase their work. Once shared online, their work is accessible to anyone across the world. By registering a copyright, original artworks, graphics, or illustrations can be safeguarded from unauthorized use, sale, or licensing.

Posting creative work online gives you control of your copyright, depending on whether the content is eligible for protection or if it meets the terms and conditions agreed upon when creating your account. Certain protections are relinquished on some platforms once you share content on their platform. When you post content on YouTube, Facebook, or X - formerly Twitter - you give the platforms permission to use the material you've shared.

When creating a social media account, some people may agree to terms and conditions even without reading through. Unknown to them, they give licenses to the platforms to use, display, distribute, or sell their content without paying royalty fees. Though you retain ownership of your shared content, the social media platform can sublicense your original content to third parties without consequence.

Typically, the license concludes when you delete the content from your page or close your account. However, the content may still be visible online if other users shared it before you deleted it.

Additionally, platforms have copyright policies to address infringements. These policies include takedown procedures, account suspension or closure, and legal action.

Challenges of copyright enforcement on social media

Preventing other online users from copying and sharing your work can be daunting.

1. Content volume

Social media platforms share a lot of information and content every day. The sheer volume of content makes it difficult to enforce against infringement of one's work.

The rate at which content is reposted and shared online can sometimes make it difficult to establish the original owner and control distribution.

When you see people sharing content without giving an indication of the source, it encourages others to copy and redistribute an original creator without giving due credit. When such content goes viral, it also draws attention to the person who reposts instead of the originator. This makes it hard to trace the source of content.

3. Downloading videos and images is easy

With smartphones, people can easily download and share videos or images quickly without giving due credit. For instance, people download and crop videos or images and share them as reels on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok, and they make money without asking permission from the original creator.

In some instances, social media users download original content, such as movie clips, add captions, and share them as memes. These often go viral and attract attention to the user who posts them instead of the original creator.

4. Limited tools to track infringement

Despite numerous technological advancements, tracking whether content is infringing is still very difficult. This means it’s easy for people to steal and repurpose content without fear.

Copycat accounts on Instagram and Catfish accounts on X are a major threat to content security on social media. These accounts copy content from other accounts and share it as is without changing an image or text. They gain massive followings as a result and, in some instances, may stay undetected for a while.

5. Some content creators don’t copyright their posts

We’ve seen how reposting someone else’s content without their consent is wrong. However, some content creators are making it easy for plagiarizers to rip off their work by not copyrighting their content.

For example, suppose you share a video or an image without copyright protection or even a watermark on social media. In that case, it may be repurposed by other online users and shared without your consent.

6. Fake profiles

People create fake accounts all the time. From Facebook to X to Instagram, fake profiles are how users copy, repost, or share plagiarized content without giving due credit to the original owner. As a result, tracking down and prosecuting a fake profile for stealing content is very difficult.

7. Fair use

In some instances, your material - even though copyrighted - may fall under fair use, allowing limited use of your material without permission for criticism, commentary, or parody purposes.

The use of content online is likely fair if:

The material used is factual, published work.
The work is used for non-profit, personal, or educational purposes.
Only a portion of the material is posted.
The character of the use has little impact on the material on the market.

The use is likely not fair if:

The nature of the published material is imaginative or unpublished.
The character of the use is for profit. It’s also not fair use if the material is used to promote a product or service or if you’re charging others a fee to access the copyrighted material.
The majority of the copyrighted material is posted. For example, posting a whole page or chapter of a book instead of just a snippet or quote from the text.
The character of the use negatively impacts the market for the original material.
The original material has been reused severally or distributed widely (repeatedly), and the owner has requested that further use be limited or discontinued. For instance, if you’re a journalist covering the Super Bowl and capture a stunning photo of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, “fair use” is if the image is used once or a few times. If it’s used repeatedly for the same event or even for random contexts, it loses its fair use character.

Protecting your content on social media

Protecting your content from plagiarism can be challenging between false profiles, copycat accounts, and the gray areas of fair use. Nevertheless, there are several measures you can take to safeguard your work on social media.

1. Familiarize with the platform's policies

Each social media platform has copyright policies that dictate what type of content can be shared and by whom. For example, Instagram has a policy that prohibits sharing original copyrighted material without permission. Therefore, the first step towards protecting your content on social media is familiarizing yourself with the platform's policies.

Before sharing content online, take a minute to read through the platform's terms and conditions to make sure you understand how much legal protection you’ll have.

2. Utilize watermarks

A watermark is a small text or logo normally placed on images or videos to show the original copyright owner. Watermarks help prevent the unauthorized distribution of content online.

You can add a watermark to your content in a few simple steps:

Choose a text or a logo that you will use as your watermark.
Create a transparent PNG file of the logo or text.
Using an editing platform like Canva, Adobe Photoshop, etc., open the image or video you want to watermark.
Add the watermark to the image or video by positioning the text or logo anywhere within.
Save the file and upload the image to the social media platform of your choice.

3. Utilize copyright notices

You can protect your social media posts by including a copyright notice. The notice is intended to inform other online users of your existing rights to the content. You can simply achieve this by using a copyright symbol along with the message “© (Your Name) All Rights Reserved” at the bottom of each social media post.

To include a copyright notice in your content, you must decide how to present it. You can write it out in text or create an image with the information. Once that’s done, you can manually add the notice to each post or utilize social media scheduling tools to automatically input the copyright notice at the end.

4. Keep proof of ownership

The best way to protect your material online is to have a record of evidence proving your ownership of the content. Some of the best ways to protect your content online are using screenshots, records of when you first published a blog post, links to a URL, or a printout of the above.

If you want to enforce your copyright by sending a cease and desist letter or pursuing legal action, outright proof of your ownership of the content will go a long way toward helping your cause.

5. Notify the infringer

If your content is illicitly circulated by another party online, promptly notify them of the infringement. This allows you to take control of the situation and send a clear message that you won’t tolerate the unauthorized use of your content.

To notify the other party of the unauthorized use of your content:

Gather sufficient evidence indicating your ownership of the content. This may include screenshots, links to your profile, or watermarked images and videos.
Craft a stern message asking the other party to cease any further unauthorized publication of your content.
Don’t hesitate to take legal action should the other party fail to comply.

6. Report the infringement

Most social media platforms boast stringent measures put in place to safeguard the content shared by their users against intellectual property (IP) theft and other violations.

When reporting an infringement to the platform, make sure:

You provide sufficient evidence indicating your ownership of the content.
Describe the violation, attach links, and provide other proof of your original work.
Include contact information should the platform require additional information.
Submit the report directly to the social media platform or complete an online form.

Once they confirm receipt of the report, the platform will investigate the infringement and take action in line with the company’s policies. If found culpable, the infringer may receive a warning, have their content removed, or simply be banned permanently from the platform.

7. Consider legal action

If you’ve warned someone to stop using your content, but they persist regardless, consider taking legal action. We at Trademarkia have a host of qualified intellectual property lawyers ready to guide you through the intricacies of social media copyright law.