Using someone else's picture, video or text without permission can land you in jail! Find out how!

If you are on social media, you must be regularly uploading images, video, text, etc. on your feed for sure. Even if you write or designed something original, you surely must have attached an image from the internet to supplement or describe it.

However, do you know that merely ‘lifting’ such items from the internet can land you into jail along with a hefty fine? Surprised much? Read on!

If you are a website owner, digital publisher, blogger, vlogger or an artist and you edit/manipulate images, video and text taken from the internet to upload on your social media portal a lot, then this article IS DEFINITELY FOR YOU!

In short, anyone who ‘lifts’ images, video or text from the internet and uses them in their social media posts without accreditation (paying for the piece or giving credit) will be served a DMCA takedown notice and land up in trouble someday.

What is accreditation/attribution?

Simply put, it means giving the creator of the piece you are using his/her due with a simple credit note (sometimes in return for a fee). In broader terms, it means giving an artist a means of getting to advertise themselves (a shout-out or a backlink) with their work you are using (mostly for free).

Non-accreditation to an author (Copyright Violation) can lead to class-action lawsuits and penalties upwards of $200 to $1,50,000 depending on the nature of the copyrighted item’s copyright infringed upon and number of times the infringement was committed.

How to credit someone?

• If you have found an image, text or video on the internet that you would like to use, the first step is to search via Google. For images and even text-based images, it is best to do a Google Reverse Image Search or to use Tineye’s AI-based search. Their algorithm can help you find the creator or image source pretty quick.
• If you are unable to find anything relevant on Google or TinEye, see the EXIF data (properties) of the file. You can find the author’s name or website there.
• You can also find relevant information on forums like Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Flickr, Open Photo and Open Clipart for most images you may come across.
• You can also find details of images saved from social media sites on FacebookCreep, Foller.me or Vkontakte via file name search.
• Lastly, keyword searches, image size search, type of image and usage rights searches can also help you score in on the source.

The professional way to attribute

• Title? "Image Caption"
• Author? "author name" - back linked to author’s social media profile page or website
• Source? "Details of Licensee and License source" - linked to original page image was found
• License? "License ID" - linked to proper license deed

What if you can’t find the author/creator of a piece?

Most people write ‘COPYRIGHT OWNED BY RESPECTIVE OWNER’ or ‘IMAGES MAY BE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT’ on the lifted piece. However, this can be done only on plagiarized pieces (taken as it is), not edited graphics. If the lifted content is a paid item, you definitely have to pay for it. No ifs and buts here.

If you are unsure if it is free or paid, you are better off not using it and you should look for something free instead. There are many sources for free images like:

• Morguefile
• Stocksnap
• Burst (by Shopify)
• Reshot
• Picjumbo
• Freestocks
• Unsplash
• Gratisography
• Picography
• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Canva
• Kaboompics
• Foodiesfeed
• New Old Stock
• Jay Mantri

Once you go through these sites, you wouldn’t really need to lift any copyrighted image!

Can you skip accreditation?

Strictly no! Assume that almost all content on the internet are a copyright of someone. Making changes to the content does not make it yours unless you pay for it or credit the rightful owner. Before being served a DMCA takedown and paying massive litigation costs, it is better to ask and receive or better not use anything paid at all.

Even Buzzfeed got sued, the makers of ‘Judgementall Hai Kya?’ and Masaba Gupta along with Nykaaa are being accused of plagiarism! Don’t wait for yourself to get sued too!