Where Social Media, Copyright, and Attribution Converge – Part IV/IV

Continuing from the last installment in the series “Where Social Media, Copyright, and Attribution Converge,” a takedown notice or notice of takedown is the response of the social media platform in response to accusations of breach of copyright or court order. The notice can also be for such things as libel or illegal content. The offending content is removed by the platform following a notice. Takedown notice is instituted as part of limited liability or safe harbor provisions for platforms in the European Union and the United States. Wikimedia Foundation gives the following advice respecting “takedown” notices:

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512)(“DMCA”), the Wikimedia Foundation (“WMF”) may be required to remove content from a Wikimedia project in response to an official DMCA request to take down the content. The Act creates a safe harbor, or a legal exemption, from copyright infringement liability for Internet service providers (ISPs) and other intermediaries. This immunity has been an asset for the entire free knowledge movement and it has been critical to upholding many of the user freedoms that have contributed to the movement’s success. To retain this safe harbor status, WMF is required to comply with a validly formulated notice and remove potentially infringing works.

–“Wikimedia Foundation Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Policy.” Wikimedia Foundation, 18 October 2023, https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:DMCA_Policy

Attribution vs Citation

The social media publisher in considering all that has been noted before must not present someone else’s work as his/her own and must give attribution/credit. In copyright law, attribution is recognition to the copyright holder or author of a work when using their work and sometimes shows the publishers authorization. Consequently, attribution includes detailing the Title, Author, Source, and License (TASL,) this form is generally recommended and Creative Common (CC) licenses specifies its use. For, CC states that “whenever you are reusing CC licensed works, we recommend that the attribution include the Title (of work), Author, Source (link to the original work,) and License (the Creative Commons License used). This is true whether you’re sharing the work as-is or if you have made an adaptation. To remember these attribution elements, it’s helpful to think of the acronym: TASL.” If elements for attribution are not accessible, such as the source or license, give as much available information as available. The best practices for attribution, a standard still in development, especially the formatting, are described at the Creative Commons Wiki.