Key issues around copyright and social media: ownership, infringement and liability

... The terms and conditions of social media platforms dictate the ownership of the material posted by users. However, as argued below, these terms are over-reaching and unfair to the user. This article argues that is particularly impudent in light of social media platforms encouraging users to share both their own original content and third-party content. The more time users spend on their platform sharing content, the higher revenue they are able to receive through advertising. For example, Facebook earned $16.6 billion in advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2019, a 28-per cent increase year-over-year,6 alongside an increase in registered users7 and time spent on the platform by those users.8 As such, the platforms benefit greatly from encouraging users to share content and this is important to bear in mind during the discussion on how much responsibility the platforms should be burdened with in relation to informing and protecting their users.