Twitter Cracks Down On Plagiarism By Deleting Stolen Jokes

Twitter is cracking down on users who steal copyrighted material, and has started deleting stolen jokes.

Those who try to pass of another user’s tweets as their own, now face having their tweets hidden and deleted.

First spotted by the @PlagiarismIsBad Twitter feed, several copies of the same joke had been hidden by Twitter with the message:

“This tweet from [Twitter user name] has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder”.

The joke in question read: “ Saw someone spill their high end juice cleanse all over the sidewalk and now I know god is on my side”.

Olga Lexell, an LA-based freelance writer, made a complaint to Twitter claiming that her joke was repeated, without credit, by several accounts.

Most of the the tweeters that copied the joke were reportedly spam accounts, possibly run by automated ‘bots that consist largely of tweets copied from elsewhere.

While re-hashing another user’s gag as their own may not seem that important, it’s a huge deal for writers, especially comedians, who use it as a testing ground for new material.

Twitter has a system in place for reporting copyright infringement, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Tweeters who think that their material has been stolen can submit a claim using a dedicated online form.

Inevitably, some brands have tried to use the copyright law in the past to have negative comments removed, but Twitter trawls through the claims carefully to see which involve genuine valid copyright theft.

According to The Verge, Twitter posts any such requests on the Chilling Effects site, but the latest saga has yet to appear.

(Image credit: Sky News/Twitter)