If Twitter Shuts Down Trump's Account For Repeat Infringement Then Will Trump Fans Finally Realize That Copyright Is The Problem?

from the or-are-we-still-in-a-facts-optional-world? dept

Over the last few months we've seen President Trump and his supporters repeatedly attack social media in general -- and Twitter specifically -- for apparently "arbitrary" moderation decisions. Yet, as we've pointed out repeatedly, it seems that the only times that Twitter has actually taken down content from Trump's Twitter account, it's been because they were effectively required to in response to DMCA takedown requests. It happened in early June, and then it happened to a Trump supporter, and last week it once again happened to Trump himself, when the band Linkin Park issued a takedown after Trump used their song in a video he posted to Twitter:

On Saturday night, President Trump retweeted a campaign video that featured the band's 2002 hit song 'In The End.' Linkin Park swiftly took action on having the video removed and shared a message with fans on Twitter.

Once again, though, rather than recognize that the structure of DMCA 512 that effectively creates massive incentives to pull down content is the issue, clueless Trump fans, like Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton, wanted to blame Twitter.

But, of course, it's not Twitter that's the issue here at all, but the structure of the DMCA. What's stunning is no Trump supporters seem at all willing to discuss this -- even as Trump-supporting Senator Thom Tillis, who heads the Intellectual Property Subcommittee, is actively working hard to make copyright law even more prone to censorship.

But here's the thing I wonder: at what point would Twitter have to shut down Trump's account as a repeat infringer? After all, based on the court rulings in the BMG v. Cox case, and some other related cases, courts have said that any repeat infringer policy doesn't need to take into account if there's actual infringement, just accusations of infringement. And, indeed, the US Copyright Office's recent report on Section 512 of the DMCA has endorsed that viewpoint.

And the DMCA does require you to have a policy to remove the accounts of repeat infringers, though it does allow for some leeway in how a service designs such a plan, so long as it does exist. In theory, Twitter could offer more "strikes" to "newsworthy" accounts, but at some point based on the way some courts (and the Copyright Office) have read the law (incorrectly to me, but who am I?), Twitter would be required to shut down the president's account.

And think of what a fucking mess that would be. At the very least, it might highlight why Section 512 is so problematic, and that the repeat infringer policy in particular can lead to absurd results. But, given how Trump and his supporters have responded to other DMCA issues, and the fact that his supporters in the Senate seem willing to make the law even more prone to these kinds of takedowns, it's likely that they'll just lie and blame Twitter for what the law itself requires.

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–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: 512i, content moderation, copyright, dmca, donald trump, repeat infringer
Companies: twitter

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  1. icon
    PaulT (profile), 23 Jul 2020 @ 2:17am

    Re: Good for Linkin Park

    "Assuming it was a valid copyright claim, then that let's exactly what copyright is designed for"

    I wouldn't say that as such, but it's worth noting that the licencing agencies involved do retain some rights for the artists


    "Th e Trump campaign is free to use music for which they have copyright permission to use."

    ...and as the document above notes, the artist is free to tell them they don't have permission to associate them with political campaigns they don't approve of. The strange thing is, Republicans (mainly) seem completely incapable of using music from people who agree with them. Is it that hard to find a popular musician who would help them campaign rather than try shutting them down the instant they release something?

    Mind you, they also seem incapable of picking a "patriotic" song that isn't a scathing indictment of America when you actually listen to the lyrics (Born In The USA, Fortunate Son, etc).

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