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The success of "Mr. Twister" and similar social media pages: built on a foundation of copyright infringement
Are you partnering with or even helping to fund a popular social media
project? You might want to do some background checking to see how that
page got to where they are before you associate yourself with them or
give them your hard-earned money.
A common (illicit) practice in social media is to use infringement-based
"content aggregation" to build one's initial following, that is,
copying wildly popular photos and videos such as breaking news imagery
and iconic photographs. Instead of sharing others' images properly
(using the 'share' or 'retweet' button), these individuals will simply
upload a separate copy of the image or video to their page's
account. By doing this, all of the social media benefit of the image -
called 'engagement' - goes to the infringer's page, and not the original
photographer's. The act is justified in their minds by giving the
photographer a "credit line".
Photographers know that "credit lines" don't mean anything in the realm
of publishing and broadcast. No one pays any attention to a "credit".
There is no residual web traffic, no increase in sales. The "exposure"
is worthless. It is the same thing online: a credit line on the internet is just as worthless as ones in TV and print publications.
No one pays attention to them, and there is very little residual
traffic. In the case of a social media image, viewers will not go
through the trouble of locating the original - they will simply interact
with the copy they see in their feed. This is especially true of
mobile users. They will simply like, commment on and re-share that
copy of the image. The original photographer sees absolutely no
benefit! The thieving social media page owners know this - it's why
they do what they do.
There are a few successful social media entities out there with large
followings that were built employing this type of copyright
infringement, and very little else. They got their start copying images
from storm photographers, news photographers, TV stations and private users,
and attracted their large followings in precisely this way. Without their theft of others' images, they would not be where they are right now. I
will not include links to them as I do not want to give them any
backlinks. If you'd like to see the examples, contact me privately and
I'll send them to you.
Some say that this is "no big deal" and "how things are done these
days". That's a cop out. If a TV station, network, magazine or
corporation used our images without permission or payment, the expedition
community would be in an uproar. A social media page doing the same
thing to become wildly successful is no different! When a social media
page starts getting followers in the high 5 figures, it becomes
something that can be turned into an income source. And many such page
owners do just that. You see them using the audience to sell prints,
calendars, videos and other merchandise. Such large followings also
make crowdfunding campaigns (Kickstarter, GoFundMe, etc) successful.
One such successful page that is enjoying an increasingly accepted and
prominent place in the storm photography community is "Mr. Twister". The
individual operating this page, Zach Roberts, built his following by
copying the work of others over the course of many years. In October of
2012, he stole my image of the Okawville, Illinois tornado without
permission or payment (like he'd done with countless others), copying it
to his page where it competed directly with mine for views, shares and
new follows:
When confronted, Roberts responded defiantly and with insults, akin to
many of the more difficult infringers I've dealt with over the years.
He was sent an invoice for use of the image, which of course has never
been paid.
Am I just holding a grudge about this one image? No. I have information
from at least two other storm photographers whos images were stolen and posted to
the Mr. Twister page. And that is just from individuals I know.
His page's feed is filled with images taken from other photographers
without permission. During major weather events, he has copied images from
news networks, newspapers, other individuals' Twitter accounts and AP
photographers. For example, during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, he copied
some of the most iconic images from that event to his feed, enjoying a
significant boost to his following as those images were shared thousands
of times. That's the pattern of how pages like this
operate - they use other photographers as stepping stones on their way
to success. I was just one of them.
Mr. Twister has solicited funds through a Kickstarter
campaign and thus used his infringment-built following to raise money. Also, it appears dozens of storm photographers are voluntarily partnering with his page's photography group, apparently unaware of the page's past history.
I'm putting up this blog post in order to publicly call out Mr. Twister and those like him, as well as informing fellow storm photographers that now support and partner with Roberts' page and business about how Mr. Twister grew to prominence. They've grown into popular, successful entities squarely on the backs of other photographers.
And no, this isn't a case of jealousy or something petty of the sort, as
I'm sure I'll be accused of for making this post (mark my words, you'll
see that in responses to this). There are many successful observer
individuals and groups who worked hard to get where they are with their
own resources, and I have never criticized any of them. There's nothing
wrong with being successful or having a large social media following.
The IS something wrong with becoming successful via unethical means, and
that's the problem I have with Mr. Twister and pages like it. And since I'm one
of the countless photographers that Roberts used to reach his position, I
have every right to make a public statement about it.
I hope by putting up this page that some followers of Mr. Twister
and other popular weather/expeditions pages with a history of copyright
infringement will find it and learn the truth behind the success of some of the
pages they follow - that is, they were built by stealing the hard work
of individual photographers. Their success is ill-gotten gain, pure and simple.
This is a legitimate scandal that needs to be exposed, and it's only
fair for this page to remain online until things have been made right.
Well said
- Posted by sally | | |
Holy smokes, Dan. I had no idea this was going on with Zach. What a shame. I'm off most social media now, but to check twitter and IG about once a week. I just saw him post about their "newest" project. I just automatically fgured those pics were his..
- Posted by Robert Forry from Gaines, MI | | |
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