Twitter Sued For Nearly $280M By Photo Agency Asserting Copyright Violations

Can Twitter ever catch a break? While its cracks are getting exposed, on the outside, Elon Musk’s app is facing another threat—it is being sued by a celebrity photo agency for neglecting to take down thousands of unauthorized images circulated by users.

Backgrid, which licenses photos of celebrities to media outlets, says Twitter has let more than 1,500 copyrighted photos remain on its platform despite it sending over 6,700 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices to the social network to delete them.

The stock agency previously made headlines in 2021 for demanding US$1.2 million from actress and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, who had uploaded paparazzi photos of herself that were listed on Backgrid. Rinna insisted there was no harm in her usage of those pictures, telling the Los Angeles Times that it was “part of the game” in the “symbiotic relationship” between stars and photographers. She asserted that, in fact, her kids grew up being ambused by the paparazzi.

BackGrid alleged in its complaint—filed in California Central District Court on December 30, 2022, with 10 anonymous plaintiffs—that Twitter is aware of the wide-scale copyright violations “it facilitates and encourages,” but it ignores them continue receiving revenue from the traffic while depriving copyright holders of the “enormous profits” they could have earned. The photo agency further accused Twitter of not making its take-down policy DMCA-compliant.

In addition, Backgrid said that Twitter allowed unauthorized uploads to be re-shared by repeat offenders, and that the social media giant did not make good with its policy to suspend “repeat infringers.”

Backgrid estimates that the supposed damage caused by Twitter’s “willful and egregious” behavior amounts to US$150,000 per image, which justifies its demand for US$228.9 million in statutory damages. It is also seeking a declaration that Twitter has violated its copyrights, as well as an injunction to stop its protected images from further being shared.

Under Twitter’s Terms of Service, the company stresses that users must ensure they have obtained all rights or the necessary permissions to copyrighted content before sharing it.

“We reserve the right to remove Content that violates the User Agreement, including for example, copyright or trademark violations or other intellectual property misappropriation, impersonation, unlawful conduct, or harassment,” Twitter adds.

Although the burden usually falls on the infringing user, this time, Twitter is being sued because it purportedly did not exercise its right to take action against offenders.

Unfortunately, oftentimes, there’s no right or wrong answer in the world of copyright disputes, and the decision is ultimately made by the judge. If you’re a creator, check out our guide on how you can protect yourself when your work gets stolen. But if you’re a user who feels they’ve been wronged in a copyright claim, here are your options.

[via PetaPixel and Law Street, cover photo 220807457 © Rafael Henrique | Dreamstime.com]