If you plagiarize on Twitter, beware: The social media network is monitoring your stolen jokes.
It looks like the seemingly strict crackdown started after a Twitter user complained about a stolen tweet.
After Los Angeles freelance writer Olga Lexell posted this tweet: "Saw someone spill their high end juice cleanse all over the sidewalk and now I know God is on my side," other accounts and bots started posting the joke without attribution.
For some people, stealing a joke might not matter. But Lexell considers tweets like this one to be her intellectual property.
Users who posted Lexell's tweet without giving her credit saw the tweet replaced with a message saying, "This tweet from (username) has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder."
Lexell also posted a statement on Twitter, saying, "I simply explained to Twitter that as a freelance writer, I make my living writing jokes (and I use some of my tweets to test out jokes in my other writing)."
The Verge says getting copyright protection for text in a tweet is rare.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects tweets from copyright infringement, which is why users can include media, like gifs, in posts. Copyright infringement on Twitter includes the unauthorized use of a picture in a profile picture or header, illegally uploading a photo or video or linking to websites with illegal content. It generally doesn't protect against the actual text of a tweet.
But Lexell's complaint to Twitter might have done more harm than good. Other users have tested the newly enforced Twitter rule by posting Lexell's joke — against her wishes — without credit.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
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