Copyright and Censorship on Instagram: Marie Claire stole my photo and blocked me from commenting
Apr 21, 2017
James Jollay
We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.
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Yesterday I found out that one of my photographs was misused, or stolen if you ask me, by a major international publishing company. Sadly this type of thing is so common that it’s almost not even worth writing about. However, it’s what happened during my quest to call-out the company that really captured my attention.
I was contacted by a friend who asked me if I’d seen that Marie Claire posted my photo to their Instagram feed. I knew nothing about it, so I went to Instagram to see.
I soon discovered that my photo had been picked up by a few other Instagram accounts before Marie Claire, the main one being Bumble and bumble, a company owned by Estée Lauder. The other accounts, including Bumble and bumble, at least had the decency and respect to credit me as well as the hair stylist when reusing my photo. Sadly the model wasn’t credited, which upset me quite a bit.
Allow me to explain my anger. First of all, the concept and creation of the photograph was done by the model (@objectivist87) and myself (@jamesjollay). She and I collaborated and tossed around ideas for quite a while trying to figure out the best way to photograph her underlights. In fact, conceptually speaking, she had most of the ideas while I handled the photography end of things; i.e. the lighting, the composition, etc.
The model and I spent a lot of time and effort to make an interesting series of photographs. When we finished creating the photographs, the model wanted to post them to her Facebook page, at which point she decided to credit myself and the hair stylist.
Now I don’t want to belittle the hair stylist and I completely acknowledge her talent with regards to underlighting the model’s hair. However, the hair stylist was in no way involved in the creation of these photographs.
After the hair stylist saw the photos, she asked if she could have copies to share on her social media accounts. I told her she could.
Of course I knew that there was the potential for the photos to be shared without my permission, however I did not expect a large international publication to share my photograph without permission and without credit. In fact, not only did Marie Claire fail to credit me, they actually took the time to remove my credit from the source photo that Bumble and bumble shared.
Technically speaking Marie Claire didn’t use the photo that Bumble and bumble used, because if you look at the photo Bumble and bumble posted you can see that the colors are way more saturated than my original photo. However, Marie Claire does follow Bumble and bumble on Instagram and had no problem giving credit to Bumble and bumble.
So What, They Just Reposted Your Photo. It’s Not Like They Made Money From It.
Why do companies use Instagram? Marketing. What do they gain from marketing? Potential revenue from sales of products and/or services. Or to put it simply, companies use Instagram to make money.
Companies use Instagram and other social media services to gain followers and ultimately sell their product or service. Typically a company will pay a photographer or a team of marketing professionals to create something they can publish. This is good because people get paid for their ideas, and hard work. It provides job opportunities. Hell, it even drives the national and global economy. Hyperbole? Maybe. Either way, the people creating marketing materials should be paid.
But why pay someone when companies can freely harvest other people’s hard work for their marketing needs? I mean, do you want to pay for something when you can get it for free? It turns out that Instagram is a great place for companies of all sizes to freely harvest other people’s hard work. Most people are just happy to have their 15 minutes of fame.
Yeah, Yeah, So What. You Got All Kinds of Exposure.
Okay, so lets talk about exposure. How much exposure do you think I received from Marie Claire’s 989,000 followers? Well, I didn’t receive any exposure because I wasn’t credited. At the time of posting there are 3,329 likes. And I would assume a lot more than 3,329 people saw the photo given the number of followers Marie Claire has. Had I been credited, those likes and views could have been potential clients for me. But I’m not a big fan of exposure anyway. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills.
What’s Next?
So now what? What is the little guy supposed to do? Hire a lawyer? How much time and money will that cost them? Here’s an idea, how about trying to call-out the bad guy that stole the photo? Well that sounds like a decent idea for now. And that’s what I decided to do.
Shame On Instagram or Instagram’s Censorship at it’s Worst
Of course I was mad but instead of leaving an angry comment, I decided to try and give credit where credit was due and at the same time call-out Marie Claire. This is when I was completely dumbfounded.
It turns out that Instagram has some kind of word filter that it uses to automatically block comments. To test this theory, I posted the same exact comment to a friend’s account to see if it would be blocked. It wasn’t.
I can only assume that Instagram provides certain accounts tools to automatically censor comments. But what part of my comment triggered it to automatically be blocked? I didn’t write anything obscene, offensive, or threatening. Did Marie Claire set up a filter to automatically block any comments critical of them? Who knows.
From my perspective, it seems that Instagram works hard to protect the big companies while using the little guys, companies or not, as the product. The crop from which the big companies can harvest whatever they desire in order to generate more revenue for themselves.
Conclusion
I’m going to state the obvious and say this is ridiculous. I think everyone that uses Instagram, especially professional photographers or other creative professionals, should be aware of this. And even if you’re not a professional, you should never let your hard work be used for profit without real compensation. I’m talking about money or something of real value. Exposure is worthless. Remember, you can’t buy food with exposure and you can’t save your exposure to buy a house.
About the Author
James Jollay is a photographer based in Trappe, Pennsylvania. He is aimed at providing local businesses with high quality photographs for websites, marketing materials, portfolios and more. For more of his work, check out his website, follow him on Instagram, Behance and Twitter, and like his Facebook page. This article was also published here and shared with permisision.
We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.
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56 responses to “Copyright and Censorship on Instagram: Marie Claire stole my photo and blocked me from commenting”
…I won’t release ANYTHING without clear © and ℗ symbols! Any unauthorized use by a corporation will face maximum penalties beyond simple copyright infringement, they do understand that screwing with someone’s publishing rights are a major liability to their corporation…
This is just wrong. I’m sorry stupid Marie Claire whored out your photo w/o giving you credit. Some dipshit in their social media department should be ashamed of themselves.
“he asked if she could have copies to share on her social media accounts. I told her she could.”
Nothing else you say after this is relevant. You lost your right to anything when you gave it away.
wow. no. i really didn’t think people could be this stupid, but here we are again.
It’s not stupid to send someone your work with no instructions for use, licensing agreement, or watermark on it and simply assume they will do the right thing by you? Protect your work if you want your work protected. Simple as that. Does it suck that it’s this way? Yes. But I’m not going to stick my head in the sand and ignore the reality.
Giving someone permission to post on their own account isn’t giving implicit consent for them to extend that copyright to anyone else. The other blogs in question clearly are violating copyright. Work is already protected by law as soon as you create it.
Thanks for civil comment. I’m not arguing law here, because I’m not an expert on that. I’m simply saying from a data and security prospective, the second you post something on the internet publicly you have to assume it will be miss used. It’s sad. I hate it. But it’s the reality. You have to protect yourself and not assume anyone else will. He should sue them hell out of them over this and take more steps to protect himself in the future.
I agree :( once your image is on the internet, game over.
That still doesn’t make what Marie Claire did right. Their magazine is lame anyway! Super boring to read! Grr.
I agree and the thing is that I really believe most blogs are smallish and there is a chance the people who run them really don’t know any better. I’m sure there’s some percentage of willful theft as well. These larger blogs by established publications DO know. They are in that business and if someone stole their content they would release the hounds.
Yea lots of attackers around the internet.
you started off by ignoring reality to begin with, so you’ll have to forgive me for disregarding your factually incorrect comments and continuing to call you an idiot.
So rather than actually engage me in intellectual conversation, you just want to call me names. That’s cute.
I don’t think you’re capable of ‘intellectual conversation’ based solely on your first post, so, no, yeah, i’ll just call you names.
Sticks and stone…uh I forget how it goes. I guess my stupid kicked in again and I can’t complete the sentence. Maybe the smartest man alive can help me out and finish it for me.
i bet he could, but he doesn’t care about you any more than i do.
BTW as you know, when people are emotional about a subject for whatever reason logic is out the window. They attack. There’s another group that just doesn’t know what they are talking about but really think they do and they too attack. You can show them definitive evidence that they are wrong but it’s too late. Ego won’t let them refrain from attacking. As with IP theft it’s the world we live in. I try not to but I’m sure I fall into the trap at times. Have a good one.
IDK if i should tell you to lay off the bleach or keep drinking it?.. hmmmmm
Bleach with a splash of lime is quite tasty. Cheers!
Touche.
This is the most idiotic statement on the Internet today. Congratulations!
You’re dumb too. Is that what I’m
Supposed to say to this?
Granting permission, no matter how broad, for someone else to use your work does not waive copyright. It doesn’t give permission to anyone else by default. Your copyright is yours, life plus 70 years, unless you sell/give it away explicitly.
So, yes, what you said was idiotic. You may or may not be idiotic, but that is an entirely different conversation.
No rights are lost by giving such permission. I think that’s what is triggering the harsh comments. It’s either poorly worded or comes from ignorance.
The photo had already been posted online by the model, so it was already out there. In fact, if I’m reading correctly it had already been reposted by bumble and bumble with attribution when permission was given to the stylist.
Neither the posting online nor the permission make this kind of IP theft OK, particularly with a huge brand. Why be an apologist for corporate greed and outright theft?
I’m not arguing the law — not a legal expert. So as you pointed out, probably poorly worded when I said “right” since everyone instantly jumps to the artist copyright pulpit.
In today’s internet wild west, anytime you or an approved person post anything online, expect it to be stolen or misused in some way. Is it right? No! No, it’s not! Does it happen, all the time — both known and unknown times. Have I come across some of my photographs ripped from my pages and shared by friends/followers on social media, you bet I have. I learned from that and take precautions to protect myself. There is simply no way around this issue right now. I like to analogies, so let me draw some similarities here. If I left my bike outside as a kid everyday without it being stolen and then one dark day, someone decided to steal it. Do i have the “right” to complain about bike theft when I took zero precautions to protect my property with a bike chain — no, I do not.
Corporate greed is just greed. It’s no different than any other types of greed. I will bet the person running their social channels has done this exact same thing on their personal pages and assumed it was ok. Judging by their delete/blocking actions, they probably tried to cover their butts to avoid getting fired. I don’t apologize for greed people that steel. But I also don’t want to listen to woe as me positions on things that could have been avoided. Watermark your work. It’s a very easy setting in the export process of Lightroom.
Hope this helps clear up my comments. Happy shooting! May the light gods be ever in your favor.
Sorry Mike, copyright ownership remains with the author / photographer unless explicitly transferred. No legal rights have been lost, though they become more difficult to enforce as distribution increases and time passes.
Invoice them.
Send the invoice.
Where you get the idea that sending an invoice to someone you never done business with is the proper way to address image theft or copyright infringement? You know Instagram has a function for those who those violated the DMCA. Also, a situation like this should handled by a lawyer that handles copyright infringement issues!
And still online… :-(
Problem is that any image put up online is subject to every kind of misuse and then some, How about the prick in NYC stealing images from Instagram and selling for 100 gees to some fool with money!
I was writing a comment about this “kind” person:)
Let’s say you have a child, with autism, leave your home one night and subsequently is attacked… Should we all just say, “Wandering children are subject to abuse.”, chalking it up to one of those things?… Fuck, no!… We’d penalize the person responsible for the crime… You’re gonna say, “but it’s not the same thing.” To which I’ll say, “to what degree is a crime not subject to penalty?”
Marie Claire should be publicly shamed, forced to admit what they did and issue an apology. Proper credits and payment are in order as well.
Time for ugly watermarks. ): Damn thieving corporations.
Copyright your image BEFORE publishing it online (or anywhere) and then sue them. You will make tons of money but they bank on you never copyrighting.
His image would have been copyrighted. However, I believe in the US you can register a copyrighted work in order to get additional damages.
Register it through copyright office.
Photographers own copyright automatically by virtue of authorship – registration is not required, though it does help with enforcement.
Intellectual property is not a valid form of property.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXZaOy3gMa4
It is according to the law. Which is the only thing that matters
Congrats, Mission accomplished – the credits are added :-)
Invoice them and send Instagram a take down for it. You don’t have to have it marked as copyrighted on first publishing though it doesn’t hurt and someone removing it willfully shows their intent. You also don’t HAVE to register it. If you had officially registered it you could have gotten more damages. Realistically the thieves can choose to out-spend you but you can still do what you are doing on this blog. If they don’t want to pay your invoice you can get lots of publicity for yourself by posting on lots of blogs showing your proof. Just make sure you have that proof which is your original image. Better probably if it is a RAW file which they can’t possibly have. You certainly have witnesses to the shooting.
Any way it goes invoice them. It is your copyright from when you pushed the shutter button.
Unfortunately there are a huge number of people, many in this thread, who don’t have a clue that you own the copyright. Don’t listen to them. Look at this. https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html
Looks like they have updated the credits on the photo ?
Hopefully, the cheque is in the mail, also.
This also builds a strong case for watermarking your images ?.
Watermarking helps to some degree, yes.
For those who TRULY steal images, it rarely works, though. PS and other editing will make it appear as though the watermark was never even there. People determined enough are just that skilled in their deviancy.
But for issues like this, yes, watermarking is great.
It drew attention to their pages as well as any of their clients or prospective clients… This, the theft of said imagery, absolutely did make Marie Claire money.
You must REGISTER your copyright, not just the “passive” copyright you’re automatically entitled to when you click the shutter. Registered copyright violations are subject to statuatory damages up to $150,000. Otherwise the judgement will only be for fair market value and the attorney’s fees will exceed that after the first billable hour. It’s not that hard – here’s a great site for getting started. http://www.wikihow.com/Copyright-Photographs
how i hate such lame storys.. you are a professional.. you don´t have a lawyer?
why are pro photogs so cheap?
it´s your biz, so protect it!
no…. they write sad sob storys on blogs.
One thing is not exactly clear here. Isn’t this photo just shared, as may always happen with instagram post? Posting anything you agree to that. I don’t use instagram or whatever but I assume it works as facebook – somebody reposted already posted content. Nothing to get angry about, just quit social media if you don’t like that someone may share your work.
To steal the picture is one bad thing already. But to delete and block the credits is really bad.
The question is how to deal it in the international context. On the national base it would be easier.
We are based in Germany and our pictures are used in South America and Italy. Difficult for us…
James, I hope you get your due. How low can corporate go? We’re seeing that now, this very year!
Copyright is such a gray area, I can’t add much more than others. Wouldn’t there be a need for a model release, though, before MC posted it? You don’t need one, I would imagine, since you two took the shot together. But, I honestly do not know.
I saw some one on Etsy steal a complete gallery of a lady’s artsy digital resource designs off her DeviantArt page and set up a shop! She even used the DA lady’s name for her shop! When the lady called her down on it, the response was along the lines of ‘they’re on the internet!’ (Etsy pulled the shop for the DA lady)
Some people may not be aware of the whole copyright thing, though, they must be blind. They see the credits or the ‘copyright’ symbol, but, perhaps, think it is some legal mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t apply to them. But, a large magazine? They’re counting on you NOT doing anything about it.
Issuing MC a take-down notice might be a good start, but, again, I am not a lawyer. Only a legal assistant. I asked my boss about this and he simply stated what a gray area it is. It isn’t his field of expertise.
But, I, for one, am boycotting them and sharing the word!
Best wishes, James.
Sincerely,
Su
Good to know. I was about to establish an Instagram account but have not loaded my photos (I am a photographer) for this very reason. I got burned by Air Canada in the same way and no photo credit. The photo went around the world on an executives Air Canada promotional twitter account.
Good for you Mr. Jollay. Thanks for helping people be aware of this behavior from big business. It would have been such a small thing for them to have credited you, the model, the stylist.. Why not?
With its popularity, Instagram became a very prominent platform that can serve various purposes. While searching for inspiration and checking out your friends’ latest activity, at the same time you can make sure your pictures are not getting stolen. Check out the hashtags you usually add to your pictures, and see what images will pop up. Hopefully, none of them will look familiar. If you find anything suspicious, it is important to report it. I am part of the team who works closely with photographers, on a daily basis. W
Our clients’ experience taught us that using pictures without the photographer’s consent while tagging them in their posts is not an uncommon practice for some companies. They probably treat the tag as an alternative to obtaining picture copyright. According to copyright law, this is not enough. You can read more about ways to protect your copyrights here: https://photoclaim.com/en/did-you-find-your-photos-stolen-on-instagram-let-us-know/