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A popular idea behind multiple youtube channels is to pick a certain topic (say, a tv-series) and then post the reactions that people have to that topic on social media, whether that be a post on twitter or an uploaded image (like a meme) on instagram or facebook.

Here's an example from football: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPuEqdf-za0

Is there any illegality to such videos?

Specifically, I am wondering whether

  1. using people's posts on social media (containing only text) and presenting them in a youtube video is lawful, and how it depends on whether the name or profile picture associated with that social media account is visible,
  2. and also whether there's an issue if the post on social media contains not only text, but, say, an image, which may be their own creation or taken from somebody else (or a combination, for example one of those "meme"-images with photos overlayed with some funny text). Does this change the issue?
gambler
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2 Answers2

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This is going to depend a good deal on there exact nature of the clips being reused. it will also depend, at least somewhat, on what country or countries the various parties are in.

General Principle

The general principle is that a peerson's post on social media is protected by copyright, just as all original works are. It is a copyright infringement to copy and redistribute the, unless permission has been granted by the copyright holder (normally the author in the case of a social media post, as those are rarely sold) or an exception to copyright applies.

Permission

There are various ways in which permission might be granted.

The re-user might directly email (or otherwise reach out to) the original author and ask, and be granted permission.

The original author might have released some or all of his or her posts under a permissive license.

Some social media might require that posts be released under a permissive license, or otherwise automatically grant such permissions. Remember that Wikipedia, for example, mandates that all posts and contributions be released under a CC-BY-SA license, although posters have the option to add an additional alternate license, or more than one.

Exceptions

The most obvious exception is Fair use, if the parties are (or at least the re-user is) in the US. People sometimes speak as if fair use is a world-wide legal rule. it is a very specifically US legal concept. Some other countries have a somewhat similar concept, known in English as "Fair Dealing". It is, i understand, rather moore limited than fair use. This law.se question and its answer discusses fair use in some detail.

Most of the posts being reused here have no market, and so their re-use cannot harm the market. That would weigh for fair use. If the re-user uses the whole post, or a substantial part of it, that would weigh against fair use. If the re-user inserts significant comment on each re-used post, that would be analytical if not transformational, and would weigh for fair use. If the re-use is monetized, that would weigh against fair use somewhat.

In short, we cn't tell in general if fair use would apply to any particular post being re-used. it might or it might not. Specifics will control, and ultimately it is a judgement call to eb made by a court, if the matter comes to that.

Enforcement

Unless the copyright holder for a given post files an infringement suit, or files a take-down notice, or complains to the host site, there will be no enforcement and no consequences. If a complaint or a take-down is filed, the host could remove the content, cancel the re-user's account, or both. If the user has monetized the re-use, ad revenue can be redirected to the copyright owner.

If the copyright holder files an infringement suit, and wins, there will be an award of damages, which might be quite small, or rather large. But with no market for the original, and probably little or no income from the re-use, low damages are more likely than high. And the original copyright holder would have filing fees, legal expenses, and possibly other expenses in advance.

There are firms with which one can register one's copyrighted work, who search for it being improperly used and take action, in return for a small up-front fee and a share of any damages recovered. But posters of general opinion on social media seem unlikely to use such services.

Conclusion

Such a “Social Media Reacts”-video is somewhat risky, from a copyright perspective, but the likely negative outcomes are not large. Asking permission whenever possible, and trying to stay within the fair-use principles (if they apply) will reduce those risks.

David Siegel
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  • What? You can use a twitter post without infringing. They are on the news daily. – Putvi Apr 23 '19 at 23:02
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    @Putvi Most of them are at least arguably fair use, but more importantly, most Twitter posters want additional exposure, and are very unlikely to sue or complain. But some might, unless Twitter imposes a permissive license the way Wikipedia does, and i don't believe that it does. – David Siegel Apr 23 '19 at 23:06
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    The fact that a particular type of potential copyright violation is widespread doesn't make it suddenly not a potential copyright violation. Unless there is circumstance excepting the requirement for permission (it being news, commentary is probably the most likely defence) it is not legally allowed. @Putvi –  Apr 23 '19 at 23:19
  • @Nij and David, the TOS of most of the big sites allow it. Its totally legal. This answer is clearly wrong. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 17:01
  • @Putvi "it" in the QUESTION is the creation of a video including content from multiple different social media sites on another site. (youtube vid with content from Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, for example) What TOS allows this? How does any site claim to have the right to allow this? Specific cite, please. – David Siegel Apr 24 '19 at 17:10
  • READ THE LINK! TWITTER'S TOS SUPPORTS IT AND IT IS IN MY ANSWER! – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 17:11
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    @Putvi I have read it, several times. It permits broadcast, using twitter's service, of tweets from others, subject to some limitations (deleted content will be removed, for example). It does not permit what the question describes, a video including reactions from multiple social media sites. – David Siegel Apr 24 '19 at 17:14
  • You are wrong there and I explained that, yet you keep going on with arguments that are laughable to try to get reputation points on here. The broadcast, being the Youtube video, uses Twitter's service to broadcast the tweets. Its totally legal. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and others do it daily. There's no logical way to say that it is banned by any even somewhat reasonable person. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 17:17
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    If the TOS allowed it, you can point to a specific section or paragraph that justifies this. Vague waving and screaming that we need to do something, when we already checked for ourselves, does not support your conclusion. Instead it only strengthens the proposition that you actually don't have such a reference, don't understand the TOS you read, and/or don't know what you're talking about. –  Apr 24 '19 at 21:53
  • @Putvi As explained above, news services quoting tweets as facts ("The president tweeted today that...") are engaging in fair use/fair dealing. This will not apply to all other possible uses. Also, Twitter posters may be less likely to complain about reuse than those on other social media. I gain no rep here if you cite a source. i might even lose some if people upvote your answer, because of the source, rather than mine. My sole desire is to improve the answer for readers. – David Siegel Apr 24 '19 at 22:03
  • @Nij My answer quotes the relavent part of the Twitter TOS lol – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 22:07
  • And as already pointed out, what of the Facebook? Instagram? YouTube TOS? –  Apr 24 '19 at 22:40
  • I told you I am not looking those up, just to get downvoted. @Nij – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 23:18
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    Well, look them up and demonstrate that your answer is correct, and the downvotes won't happen or will be reversed. Stop complaining about the downvotes when you keep doing things that get downvoted and refuse to do things that would get upvotes. –  Apr 24 '19 at 23:21
  • I am in the top 2%. I have had upvotes, but I have literally linked you to the a site explaining the Twitter TOS. I did look it up. – Putvi Apr 25 '19 at 17:58
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The answer is no, those videos are not illegal. Twitter allows you to rebroadcast a tweet as long as you use their service to do it.

Twitter has an evolving set of rules for how ecosystem partners can interact with your Content on the Services. These rules exist to enable an open ecosystem with your rights in mind. You understand that we may modify or adapt your Content as it is distributed, syndicated, published, or broadcast by us and our partners and/or make changes to your Content in order to adapt the Content to different media. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any Content that you submit. https://www.howtogeek.com/310158/are-other-people-allowed-to-use-my-tweets/

The tweets used in the video are screenshots of twitter, so that is using the twitter service.

Read the TOS of the specific social site for each case, but most of the popular ones have similar policies.

The other answer is right in that some tweets can be copyrighted though. https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/04/article_0005.html

Putvi
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  • The question specifically asked about distributing such a video via youtube not Twitter, and coiling them from multiple sources, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and perhaps other sources. So the quoted provision does not apply, at least not to all such cases. Moreover, i have read the Twitter TOS. It is not at all clear to what extent they require posters to allow others to reuser their content in this way, and if a poster deletes a tweat, it seems that any such license is terminated, and Twitter will removed the re-used content. This does not answer the Q. – David Siegel Apr 23 '19 at 23:29
  • No, it specifically says "broadcast" which would refer to video. – Putvi Apr 23 '19 at 23:33
  • The question starts: "A popular idea behind multiple youtube channels...", and the given example is on youtube. The question mentions including "reactions that people have to that topic on social media, whether that be a post on twitter or an uploaded image (like a meme) on instagram or facebook." That doesn't sound like twitter-only to me. – David Siegel Apr 23 '19 at 23:37
  • I am not saying it is twitter only. – Putvi Apr 23 '19 at 23:37
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    @ Putvi Your answer said "Twitter allows you to rebroadcast a tweet as long as you use their service to do it. " but that refers to a Twitter-only situation, otherwise Twitter's TOS does not apply, or cannot grant the needed permission. In short your answer does not apply to the situation described in the question, only to a somewhat related and more limited situation. Twitter cannot grant permission to reuse content from Facebook or Instagram, and it does not grant permission to use tweets on non-twitter services. – David Siegel Apr 23 '19 at 23:41
  • Yes that specific link covered Twitter, but most other social sites have similar TOS. – Putvi Apr 23 '19 at 23:44
  • There's too many sites to list each one, but most of the big ones have similar TOS. – Putvi Apr 23 '19 at 23:45
  • I do not think you can find even one site whose TOS purports to grant the rights to reproduce sources from multiple distinct social media sites, as described in the question. If you could I doubt it would be valid. And I do not think most grant as much in the way of reuse rights as the Twitter TOS does. – David Siegel Apr 24 '19 at 02:39
  • No one said one site can let you reproduce from another site. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 17:00
  • The question outlined a situation in which a youtube video would be made including content from Twiter, Instagram, and Facebook in the same video. Your answer says "those videos are not illegal." and supports this by citing the Twitter TOS. How does that, or any TOS, allow the OP to do what was described in the Q? What does allow this? Please support your answer. – David Siegel Apr 24 '19 at 17:05
  • I supported my answer. Your comments are getting ridiculous and harassing. The TOS says you may broadcast content from Twitter. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 17:07
  • So where is the TOS that allows this for Facebook? For Instagram? Because that is the question: all of them, together. Not each one alone, not just Twitter. –  Apr 24 '19 at 21:56
  • @Nij I'm done looking up stuff if you guys just want to vote me down. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 21:59
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    You get voted down because you repeatedly tell everybody else to look it up, which defeats the purpose of using Stack Exchange Q&A, instead of just doing it first and putting the results in your answer. –  Apr 24 '19 at 22:01
  • I've quoted the Twitter TOS and am not going to look up every TOS of every social site when the other answer is far from the truth. – Putvi Apr 24 '19 at 22:03