If the headline of this post has a hint of someone reeling a little from an open wound, I’d say perhaps you are not so far off. To date, I have filed DMCA takedown requests with Facebook to address over 200 copyright infringements. All of these involved a single image of mine.

Lake Huron Beach Rocks photo – from Port Huron, Michigan — not Kincardine, Ontario, Canada

The photograph, Lake Huron Beach Rocks (Image ID # RO-9568), seems to resonate with many people, at least on social media. I get it in part, people like beaches and collecting colorful rocks. I have a lot of great memories of this myself.

The problem with the sharing of this image is that 99% of the shares I’ve found have no associated photo credit, no links to my website or my own Facebook Page, and NO LICENSE. In addition, the version passed around is one where someone “rubbed out” the watermark in the lower right corner.

The posts with this image are usually labeled with the wrong location information, like “Colorful shore of Lake Huron beach Ontario Canada.” Thousands of people make comments wondering just where this colorful beach is. HA! If they only knew. Barely anyone asks about who made the photo, only about the location so they can go collect some of these rocks for themselves.

Sharing without credits isn’t unusual, unfortunately. Many Facebook photo “sharing” Pages don’t provide any recognition of the artists. Their primary focus is to selfishly share images and/or videos to generate buzz and traffic reach for their Page. Moreover, there are very few people who actually call them out to say, “Hey, you should at least provide photo credit.” The content creators are entirely out of mind. The whole scam is rampant and out of control.

Social media is a huge numbers game. Only a tiny fraction of your audience sees the content you post (the social media giants’ business model) unless you pay to “boost” something. So with more followers, the more people you can reach organically without paying for it, even if it is a tiny percentage.

If you happen to have content that reaches a lot of people organically without boosting, then that content is quite valuable.

With more eyeballs coming to any particular page, those views can turn into some real money via advertising.

The Business Models of Facebook Pages

A lot of Facebook Pages are built around this entire principle of getting your attention to serve ads to you. Many of these pages serve articles either loaded with ads using Facebook’s Instant Articles (targeted towards mobile users, and the content appears integral with Facebook) or links to blogs where similar advertising is displayed.

Anyone who has run a Facebook Page knows how some content seems to reach more people than others. That is by design. Posts containing pictures or videos alone tend to reach more people than posts with external links. After all, why would Facebook want to direct people away from Facebook?

I don’t state that as some indication of an evil master plan (okay, maybe a little bit), it is built into the corporate social media model. Any web page on the net wants visitors to stay as long as possible. Any app wants you to stay within the app.

Lots of photos, videos, stir in some links

Pages that intend on making ad revenue can’t do it alone on photos. They tend to select photos they think will be popular enough to expand their reach, and intersperse those posts with other posts linking to ad-filled blog sites. Facebook Page admins want that content to be flowing and activity levels high.

The problem, which appears rampant, is with Pages using the intellectual property of others to accomplish their marketing goals. These pages don’t share the posts of other pages; they save the photo and post it as native content on their page. The distribution of photographs in this manner without permission violates copyright law.

Pulling back the curtain

I went deeper into this mess a few years ago when a geology enthusiast page on Facebook shared the beach rock photo above. No photo credit, and my watermark rubbed out.

My photograph was doing quite well on their page compared to their other posts in reactions, comments, and shares. It was up to over 50,000 shares and 32,000 reactions for a single post! Their reach undoubtedly benefited from it without paying Facebook a cent in boosting fees. The photo has value. It’s not a bad deal for the Page, a bitter-tasting one on my end.

This photograph was, in effect, being used for advertising for their page, like a celebrity being used to promote a product. People like the content they share, decide to follow their page to see more of it, and ultimately get served links leading to their website, which earns the Page owners money. Mission accomplished, move on to the next post, and cash in.

As you can see, reaching 8,500 people would have cost me $35. And the stats on this single post don’t count the exponential shares of shares within. The total reach is hard to guess if you don’t have access to the calculations behind the post insights. It was indeed viral. Ok, not Gangnam Style huge, but a lot for this small-time Michigan nature photographer.

I initially tried to contact them about it – you know, play the nice guy. I realized I had to escalate when I saw their page continually churning content but not responding to my requests. I used Facebook’s Copyright Infringement form to report them. Facebook generally acts pretty fast on these reports, usually within 24 hours. By law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Facebook is required to react to a report. Facebook took the post down and then a bit more.

Learning the hard way

The geology Page admins got pretty chatty and responsive suddenly. Mainly because one of their admins (the one responsible for the post) got their account wholly blocked. They were filled with apologies on how they didn’t know it was mine, didn’t know who it belonged to, etc. I believed them.

Chances are they didn’t know who it belonged to. The watermark was rubbed out from some version they grabbed elsewhere on the internet. That is a common situation. But they still decided to use it anyway. The chances of getting caught are pretty slim, and the reward for the Page is pretty great. The thing is, regardless of the intent, ignorance isn’t a valid excuse in copyright law.

I explained to them I was trying to reach them repeatedly before filing the infringement report, but they lost out by not responding. They were too busy posting and keeping content alive.

Facebook Jail

Unfortunately, most people have to learn the hard way regarding copyright violations. It’s part of those long Terms of Service agreements that you click past when creating an account. If a post from a Facebook Page is reported, the violation also goes against the personal account of the admin that posted the content.

From what I have observed in their current policies, Facebook has a “three strikes” policy. Facebook will issue a warning on a 1st offense. You may get a 3-day block from your account on a second offense – a temporary jail sentence. If it is a third offense, it can result in a permanent block; you’re out. All your contacts, family, friends, business associates – photos blocked. Trust me, it is tough to get this 3rd strike undone. You don’t want to go there. (Edit: Facebook has updated all of their strike policies since this posting, but it is unclear how exactly they classify copyright infringement)

As it turned out, this geology page had a couple of strikes against their admin that were already unrelated to my situation. When I reported it – it was strike number three. And note that I have no idea who the admins are when making a report against a post. It is a report against that Page and that post alone. Facebook then connects the dots in issuing the penalties.

So, it turned into a big concern for those involved. Ultimately, we worked out an agreement where Page issued a public apology to me on my request, and I retracted the complaint. But even in doing this, there is no guarantee Facebook will restore everything to normal. It is tough to undo if you have gone this far with copyright violations.

The Entitled Blocker

Fast forward about a year, and I left this geology page issue out of my mind. In February 2019, a friend of mine saw the image again on a different Page. Similar circumstances – a Page utilizing it to engage their audience, no credit whatsoever, and again with the wrong location in Canada. <sigh>

She commented on the post on my behalf, and the page admin blocked her! She told me about it, I also contacted them, and they blocked me. That’s something that makes you push your sleeves up. I told him he was going to be reported. This trying to be nice up front just isn’t working.

Just as I was about to file the notice with Facebook, the guy messages me again saying he deleted the post while grumbling about Facebook being a public network (it’s not), my image wasn’t watermarked (it was before someone altered it), etc. The justification’s guilty conscience runs through, I suppose. Ah, ok, good riddance.

Clearly, businesses see value in them as they use imagery daily to promote their brands.

Advice to Content Creators

Be diligent in protecting your intellectual property rights. I would advise:

• Doing periodic reverse image searches in Google, Tin Eye, etc, can sometimes lead to Facebook pages using your material. They don’t find them all but may lead you on a path to searching directly on Facebook.
• In the Facebook (desktop version) search pages, be sure to select the PUBLIC radio button under FILTER RESULTS. This turns up a lot more than the default option. Repeat searches after the reported content is cleared. I have found it turns up more cases. Facebook search results are haphazard at best, and don’t forget about the different languages worldwide! (An updated way is to use Facebook Rights Manager)
• You can sign up for a image search service, which will automate some of these searches for you. I am not an attorney, so it is best to consult one in those cases.
• BOOKMARK Facebook’s Copyright Complaint Form here – use it wisely and often.
• If you see something, say something! Use the hashtag #StopPhotoTheft in the comments where no credits are given. Maybe a social movement will draw more attention to this problem.

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This post was edited for clarity and updated information on 12 July 2019.