#the worldwide nonexclusive royalty-free license thing is how websites transmit your posts to other users

[appendingfic]

Someone: *reads the user license of a website for the first time* Someone: *makes an alarmist post about every phrase they don't understand*

[excitable-nugget]

Your Content and Social Media

I did a bit of research to figure out what rights various content-sharing platforms have with the content you upload. ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IS AS OF THE 28th of JULY 2017. These entities have the ability to change the ToS at any given time, so stay vigilant!

General Notes

DO NOT PANIC. These sites/apps aren’t out to steal your stuff. All of them require a basic licence in order to deliver the services you enjoy! Without such a licence, they wouldn’t be allowed to store your stuff on their servers, create back-ups or show it to other users!

All of these sites state that you retain ownership to your intellectual property - none of them steal ownership outright (yet). 

As always, be aware of what you’re putting online, along with the risks involved!

I am not a law person on any account - I’m a business/IT student, so while I’ve done my best to fact-check/include sources, I am by no means an authority on the subject.

Some key terms you will see are:

Royalty-free: The ability to use intellectual property without paying a royalty fee. (Business Dictionary) They can do things with your content without paying you.

Non-exclusive: A license in which the same rights to an intellectual property granted to several licensees within the same scope or field, consecutively or simultaneously. (Business Dictionary) 

Interesting note: many of these sites state that, when uploading content, you must be in a legal position to grant the licences to them. Meaning that reposting is not only a crappy thing to do, but ILLEGAL.

Twitter (US) (International)

"By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed). This license authorizes us to make your Content available to the rest of the world and to let others do the same. You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to provide, promote, and improve the Services and to make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, promotion or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use. Such additional uses by Twitter, or other companies, organizations or individuals, may be made with no compensation paid to you with respect to the Content that you submit, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Services."

The first part is pretty self explanatory and what we will be using as an example of a standard licence. You retain the rights to your work, but Twitter is allowed to use the work and give sub-licences to other people/organizations. The sub-licences are for purposes pertaining to the running of a website, so it’s not bad news! This is the same both in and out of the United States.

HOWEVER, Twitter’s agreement suggests that they’re able to use your content for advertising, so be mindful of that.

Tumblr (x)

"When you provide Subscriber Content to Tumblr through the Services, you grant Tumblr a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, cache, reproduce, publish, display (publicly or otherwise), perform (publicly or otherwise), distribute, transmit, modify, adapt (including, without limitation, in order to conform it to the requirements of any networks, devices, services, or media through which the Services are available), and create derivative works of, such Subscriber Content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purposes of allowing Tumblr to operate the Services in accordance with their functionality, improve the Services, and develop new Services. The reference in this license to "creat[ing] derivative works" is not intended to give Tumblr a right to make substantive editorial changes or derivations, but does, for example, enable reblogging, which allows Tumblr Subscribers to redistribute Subscriber Content from one Tumblr blog to another in a manner that allows them to add their own text or other Content before or after your Subscriber Content."

Currently, tumblr has a standard licence and has stated in explicit terms that the entity is not allowed to sell your work or use it for things like advertising. They are allowed to reproduce and analyse it, along with allowing third parties to do the same. Like a lot of site, the nature of tumblr makes it very difficult to delete things entirely, so be mindful of that.

Discord (x)

"By uploading, distributing, transmitting or otherwise using Your Content with the Service, you grant to us a perpetual, nonexclusive, transferable, royalty-free, sublicensable, and worldwide license to use, host, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display Your Content in connection with operating and providing the Service."

Discord has a similar standard licence, but with the added ability to ‘translate’.

Facebook (x)

"For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it."

A standard licence, explicitly stated to be valid until you wipe all traces of the content in question from the site. 

DeviantArt (x)

"DeviantArt does not claim ownership rights in your works or other materials posted by you to DeviantArt (Your Content)."

"DeviantArt does not claim ownership rights in Your Content. For the sole purpose of enabling us to make your Content available through the Service, you grant to DeviantArt a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, distribute, re-format, store, prepare derivative works based on, and publicly display and perform Your Content. Please note that when you upload Content, third parties will be able to copy, distribute and display your Content using readily available tools on their computers for this purpose although other than by linking to your Content on DeviantArt any use by a third party of your Content could violate paragraph 4 of these Terms and Conditions unless the third party receives permission from you by license."

Just another standard licence. The ToS are warning of art theft, and while the licence is non-exclusive, sub-licencing is not explicitly discussed.

Instagram (x)

"Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, subject to the Service's Privacy Policy, available here, including but not limited to sections 3 ("Sharing of Your Information"), 4 ("How We Store Your Information"), and 5 ("Your Choices About Your Information"). You can choose who can view your Content and activities, including your photos, as described in the Privacy Policy."

Instagram has a standard licence, and in the privacy policy states that third-party licencing is for analysis/distribution.

Archive of Our Own (x)

The nature of AO3 is different to the others, being based off of fanworks, but the content licencing is very much the same, and potentially even better explained! I’ve picked out key parts, but I HIGHLY recommend reading the entire section for examples and good explanations! OTW refers to Organisation for Transformative Works.

“The OTW does not claim any ownership or copyright in your Content... Running the Archive, however, requires us to make copies, and backup copies, on servers that may be located anywhere around the world.

1. ... By submitting Content, you grant the OTW a world-wide, royalty-free, nonexclusive license to make your Content available. "Making available" includes distributing, reproducing, performing, displaying, compiling, and modifying or adapting.  Modifying and adapting here refer strictly to how your work is displayed—not how it is written, drawn, or otherwise created... 2. ... This license exists only for as long as you choose to continue to include such Content on the Archive and will terminate within a reasonable time after [it is removed]...  3. You may provide Content to a part of the Archive that you do not completely control...  by submitting Content to those parts of the site, you agree to the rules for removing and retaining such Content on those parts of the site. 4. You acknowledge and agree that the OTW may preserve Content and may disclose Content if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: comply with legal process; enforce the ToS; respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties; or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the OTW services' users and the public.”

So, a standard licence, but with set termination times and extra tidbits concerning stuff like comments. Overall very considerate. Note ao3 has explicitly stated they may legally retain things, but that’s only for stuff that’s high-key illegal.

And that, friends, is all for today!

Stay alert, stay safe, and happy networking!