# Why Content Theft Should — At the Very Least — Frustrate You

- Link: https://chatterblast.com/blog/why-content-theft-should-at-the-very-least-frustrate-you/
- Published: 2016-04-14T18:08:59-04:00
- Author: Kyle Krajewski

As a writer, tweeter, content creator, former English major and general respecter
of intellectual property, one of my all-time pet peeves is **plagiarism**. I hate
it and you should too.

You should hate it because it’s **unethical**, it’s **rampant** and, in many cases,
_it’s **illegal**._

I say “_many cases_” rather than “_all cases_” because, as we’ve reached this magical
age of **Web 2.0 **— an age of, no longer solely passive, but _interactive_ experiences
in digital spaces — the concept of “_plagiarism,_” as well as what’s illegal and
what’s not, have become far more difficult to define.

Everybody has a **Facebook**, most people have **Twitter** and **Instagram** and
a good portion of people have **blogs**. The physical act of posting on each of 
these is incredibly easy. What is not always easy is coming up with _original_, 
_thoughtful_, _effective_ and _engaging_ content to actually post. What _is _always
easy (_and tempting_) is selecting, copying and pasting someone else’s thoughts.

But who cares if you do though, _right?_ **It’s just a stupid tweet**.

It’s not some scholarly paper.

It’s meaningless — a 140-character piece of content, ephemeral in nature, here and
gone just like that.

I’m here to tell you that **you’re wrong** and that there’s potentially more at 
stake than just the self-loathing and guilty conscience that come along with being
an unoriginal tool who can’t come up with their own ideas.

Let’s have a look at some problem areas where these plagiarists can potentially 
affect you and how you can (_or cannot_) do anything about it:

### **_BLOGS_**

#### **Why you should care about stolen blog content:**

If you or your company has a blog, you should obviously care about Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and, therefore, should care about stolen content from your blog.
When another blog scrapes your content, you’re not only being robbed of the hard
work that was put into creation, but potentially on your search engine rankings 
and, ultimately, page views.

Good, original content is the _backbone_ to content marketing and a basic component
of any on-page SEO strategy. While Google has [gradually gotten better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-wkEeOKxM)
at detecting the original creator of a certain piece of content, republication without
credit and/or backlinks can still cause trouble for your website.

In the _worst-case scenario_, Google could view duplicate content as spam and, as
a result, bury **both sites** in its rankings. All the hard work put into your content
strategy and delivery has gone to waste.

In any case, your best bet would be to take action as quickly as possible.

#### **What you can do about stolen blog content:**

First things first: You need to find out if anyone is scraping your content. Find
out by following [these instructions](https://blog.kissmetrics.com/content-scrapers/).

If you’ve found out that someone is, I suggest that you do what you can to reach
out to this person and urge them to cease and desist their behavior. Give them the
benefit of the doubt.

If you don’t have any luck with that, you then need to file a **Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) compliant** to Google [here](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?pli=1).
You can have your site established as [DMCA Protected](http://www.dmca.com/WordPress/default.aspx?r=mlm)
and have your duplicator removed from Google’s rankings.

### **_INSTAGRAM_**

#### **Why you should care about stolen content on Instagram:**

Instagram is trekking through some _murky waters_ when it comes to stolen content.
On one hand, you’re looking at the idea of ownership over the photos that you have
personally taken and subsequently posted. This, specifically, is something that 
Instagram addresses in their [Terms of Use](https://help.instagram.com/478745558852511/?ref=hc_fnav)(
_which nobody probably ever reads_):

_You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through
the Service or otherwise have the right to grant the rights and licenses set forth
in these Terms of Use._

Great. So you _technically_ have grounds to take action if someone steals your content
on Instagram.

Does it usually make a difference? _Nah_.

The sad truth is that, everyday, people on Instagram profit from other people’s 
content. Someone could be profiting off of something of yours **right now** and 
you have no idea — whether it be in the form of a [physical product](https://www.instagram.com/p/VT_MOHk7Or/),
[a photo contest](http://imageandview.com/notes1/how-a-stolen-photo-became-a-contest-winner/)
or worse: a [potential television show and multi-_million_ dollar deal with a huge talent agency](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/17/josh-ostrovsky-fat-jew-comedy-central-deal-dropped).

The last of these is most concerning not only because the practice in question is
incredibly popular, but because of the fact that it has to do with **cross-platform
content theft**: popular Instagram users (**The Fat Jew**, **FuckJerry**, et al)
who screenshot jokes from Twitter, purposefully crop the username out of the image,
and post it to their own Instagram account with the implication that _they have 
come up with the idea themselves_.

_Example: _

> Just a man enjoying a bottle of wine on a romantic date with his bulldog. [pic.twitter.com/inpIicQ6yj](http://t.co/inpIicQ6yj)
> — Ben Rosen (@Rosen) [August 14, 2015](https://twitter.com/Rosen/status/631984568090918912)__

When it comes to giving “credit,” he’s just lazy about it and not even accurate—
as you can see in the post above. It tends to be the case with the majority of these
plagiarists. It’s OK though, because when he doesn’t give credit, he’s sorry.

> [@thepatrickwalsh](https://twitter.com/thepatrickwalsh) it was on a blog dude.
> Apologies.
> — The Fat Jew (@FATJEW) [June 8, 2014](https://twitter.com/FATJEW/status/475497992099995648)

> .[@FATJEW](https://twitter.com/FATJEW) Then credit me! Don’t pass it off as your
> own & rack up thousands of “likes!” You don’t see that’s wrong? Apology not accepted.
> — Patrick Walsh (@thepatrickwalsh) [June 8, 2014](https://twitter.com/thepatrickwalsh/status/475499830114926592)

Any of these users will argue that what they do is called “**curation**” of popular
web content. But the un-credited hardworking and talented comedians, writers and
brands who are trying to make an honest living will tell you what they do is called“**
bullshit**.”

#### **What you can do about stolen content on Instagram:**

Again: Ask them to take it down. They won’t, because they’ll call themselves “curators”
as defense. When they do, file a Copyright Report Form [here](https://help.instagram.com/contact/539946876093520).

Did someone super popular like The Fat Jew screenshot one of your tweets without
crediting you? Good luck, he’s been [kicked off the platform](http://www.vice.com/read/live-stream-the-fat-jew-is-chained-up-outside-of-instagrams-offices)
several times but is still going strong with over **8 million followers.** The best
thing you can probably do is join the shaming movement [against him](http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/259945/fat-jew-plagiarism-list-guide/).

### **_TWITTER_**

#### **Why you should care about stolen tweets:**

**Twitter is awesome** because it is full of some of the most creatively talented
people _in the world_ who crank out useful, insightful and hilarious ideas on a 
daily basis.

**Twitter is awful** because it is full of some of the most popularity-hungry people
in the world who can simply lift someone else’s tweet — verbatim — and paste it 
onto their own account to reap all of the benefits of internet fame for their unoriginal
self.

Are there any _real_ consequences for that type of behavior on Twitter? Aside from
public shaming when exposed on a mass-scale (as illustrated by [the infamous case of @prodigalsam](http://happynicetimepeople.com/2013/12/23/fall-rise-prodigalsam/)),
the answer is **no**.

Once again you’re screwed out of the true benefits of your own hard work because
someone would rather endorse _themselves_ as creative rather than endorse the original
creator with a simple retweet. Good luck proving legal ownership of a ”thought” 
that any person can enthusiastically claim had struck them the same way it struck
you.

It may seem insane to make such a fuss about this matter but any writer, comedian
or creator for a disruptive brand, among others, can vouch for the fact that writing
an effective tweet is not always so easy.

Shout out to the dozens of **Will Ferrell** and **Worldstar** **“parody” accounts**
who all post identical content everyday but still somehow each have upwards of _hundreds
of thousands_ of followers —popularity of which they’re profiting from in one way
or another.

> [@WORLDSTAR](https://twitter.com/WORLDSTAR) Will Ferrell said that years ago the
> exact same post
> — Johann Patterson (@johannpatterson) [February 21, 2016](https://twitter.com/johannpatterson/status/701485921066229760)

#### **What can you do about stolen tweets:**

Again, contact the user and address the issue at hand. If that doesn’t work, which
it probably won’t because they have already stooped to the level of stealing your
stuff in the first place, then you’re as good as screwed.

Twitter is the world’s _largest_ _hotbed_ for plagiarism because it’s so easy to
get away with.

### **_IMPLICATIONS_**** **

The _real issue_ here is that, still, social media is not entirely respected as **
a legitimate medium for creation**.

I’m not saying that it necessarily _should be_ in all cases, because it would be
insane for anyone to hold _exclusive_ rights to specific phrases about what you 
woke up and did in the morning.

But, realistically, there should be some type of solution to the rampant practice
of _mass scale creative content theft_. For people who write, that’s a **service**—
and service theft is distinctively punished, in one way or another, throughout almost
every other industry.

I don’t have all of the answers on how to necessarily enact such a thing, but I 
do know one thing for certain: We have a problem.

I know you’ve _at least _caught wind of the Fat Jew controversy that really hit 
the fan in 2015, so let me have it in the comments. What do you think about plagiarism
on social media?