Twitter/X quietly adds official support for content theft

[Dan Robinson]

Twitter/X added a posting option some time ago that makes content theft for profit an officially-supported function of the platform. This function allows accounts to repost (embed) videos from other accounts as *native* reposts that are indistinguishable from a traditional download/native reupload.

The most shocking and egregious part of this function is that the revenue earned on a video reposted this way *all* goes to the reposting account, with *zero* shared with the original poster.

This was confirmed in the following:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1986073264876392835

Furthermore, the engagement on the repost (views, retweets, replies) all goes to the reposting account, meaning the original account gets none of the engagement metrics that are used to qualify for monetization.

This goes far beyond the worst TOS rights grabs any platform has ever tried to institute, yet has quietly been enacted without the user base’s knowledge.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Thanks for brining this to our attention. I saw your original posts/questions to grok on X and was shocked that they had added the ability to post someone else's video without even having to download and reupload it. I was also shocked (but not really surprised) that they only share revenue wen premium accounts look at content (despite them making add money when free users look at content). The other thing that surprised me was the difference between a repost and a quote repost in that all revenue from the quote view goes to the quoter. I didn't realize if I quoted something and made some trivial comment that I was taking revenue away from the original poster.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Thanks Randy, wow, I was not aware of the quoted post diversions, that is beyond the pale.

 

[James K]

I read the title ... thinking oh good they added an official way to help stop/block content theft!

Then actually reading your post. All I can say is: um. wow. what a horrible addition!
The 2 big questions that come to mind are:
Why is anyone still posting anything on there?
Why aren't the big media companies & such all up in arms about this? (they are afterall the only ones who could force change, since as we all know twitter/x could care less about their many smaller users)

 

[Warren Faidley]

I'm hoping AI totally destroys the entire social media footage and still image markets. I've invested heavily in AI computing, so I'm going to do my part. Social media is basically a socialized, criminal form of business. The peons do the bulk of work while the upper level few enjoy all the benefits. This is the greatest ripoff in the history of creative pursuits, including photography and cinematography. To think some of the people who worked their way to the top of the pile did so by "fake it until you make it" tactics, and now profit from other chasers work is nauseating. More so, they would care less. They will re-post (package) other chasers clips (as Dan noted above), then complain like hell when someone uses their footage without permission. It's basically the same form of abuse.

 

[William Monfredo]

Both interesting and disappointing to see how far we've come and gone in the video and information age.
Earlier this year, I realized that 40 years had passed since the first video of a tornado, an F-5 on May 31, 1985 in Wheatland, PA.
In a very general sense, if something becomes too popular, it seems to get ruined. I suppose one has to figure out what's the next new thing.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Both interesting and disappointing to see how far we've come and gone in the video and information age.
Earlier this year, I realized that 40 years had passed since the first video of a tornado, an F-5 on May 31, 1985 in Wheatland, PA.
In a very general sense, if something becomes too popular, it seems to get ruined. I suppose one has to figure out what's the next new thing.

OT, but there were tornado videos (as opposed to motion pictures shot on film) at least as early as 1981; the well-known NSSL chase team "sound package" video. Perhaps you meant to describe the first known home video of a tornado?

Home video as a medium was introduced in the U.S. in 1975-'76 in the form of Betamax and VHS, respectively. However, the first "portable" units weren't introduced for a few more years, and they were heavy, clunky two-piece affairs with separate cameras. Most chasers probably found it easier to continue using motion-picture film, and at the time it still generally yielded better quality. The first one-piece "camcorders" weren't introduced until 1983 (Betamax) and '84 (VHS), so 1985 seems about the right time for the first tornado home video to emerge.

On topic, I'm glad I never got too vested in Twitter. Current ownership aside, I closed my account several years before that because I simply didn't find it useful.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I just deleted my Twitter/X account today (started in 2009) after seeing that none of my posts about the winter storm were being shown to anyone. No one beyond a small group of the same 5 users has been seeing my posts. If I can't have important information get shown when it matters, the site now serves no purpose for me. For the first time since social media began, I'm finally completely free from it.

 

[Randy Zipser]

If I can't have important information get shown when it matters, the site now serves no purpose for me. For the first time since social media began, I'm finally completely free from it.

You did the right thing, Dan!

I'll try to say this as "delicately" as I can so as not to upset the Admins, but I think it should be stated for all to debate freely here since it is certainly on the minds of many posters above.

This topic and all commentary above is yet another specific example of and sad commentary about the times we all now find ourselves in.

On a broader scale, the democracy and entitlements which have traditionally always been sacrosanct to all Americans are being increasingly abused and usurped by the unbridled authority of the very few in business, as well as our society, in general. Sadly, should any of us be surprised by this emerging trend, especially where there is no meaningful (or organized) pushback?

Case in point. The current owner of Twitter/X is a "new breed" of American oligarch who as recently as last year came to be associated with some of the most lawless, corrupt, and incompetent individuals in our society to whom we entrusted our vote, confidence and leadership. Not naming any names, as the previous statement applies to far more than any one individual...but you get the overall idea. In the case of Twitter/X, a user of this service is forced to make the decision to unsubscribe because his/her rights related to freedom of expression and ability to receive just compensation for his/her contributions are taken away de facto, not by his/her own choice or the realities of the "marketplace." Yes, there are other social media outlets one could go to, but will the trend on these ultimately be any different? It comes down to the loss of freedom of individual choice. American business is built upon expanding innovation from the bottom up, not concentration of power at the top!

 

[Brett Roberts]

Slightly tangential, but a few weeks ago, I noticed my X feed was suddenly algorithmic even if I clicked the "Following" tab (as opposed to "For You," the fully algorithmic feed most users are unknowingly stuck on).

It took a week or two for me to realize this is because E*on has decided to make even the "Following" feed algorithmically sorted such that you see the most "popular" posts from your followed accounts, even if they're 12-24 hours old. This can be fixed by clicking the "Following" tab, which opens a new submenu where you must switch from "Popular" to "Most recent." But this step is so opaque that even I didn't find it until I'd suffered through a feed dominated by smarmy clout chasing and meme tweets for many days.

Just one more incremental step toward the total eradication of the option for SM users to see a deterministic feed of content from accounts they've chosen to follow. I'm guessing well under 10% of human users of X now see a chronological feed of their followed accounts. That likely implies the same paltry percentage of your followers will see your time-sensitive weather tweet if it isn't sensationalist, memeified, or otherwise playing to the algorithm.

X is a useless cesspool, and has been for at least a couple years now. And yet, some of the smartest and most valuable members of the weather community are still neck deep in engagement addiction there, so nothing is going to change anytime soon.

 

[Dan Robinson]

They've been pushing "For You" hard the past few weeks. I only noticed it when I started seeing political stuff from people I don't follow. I had to reset it every time I loaded the page. Most users just accept "For You" along with whatever else the platform decides for them.

I hate to sound so negative all the time, but I see nothing good about where things are going. 95% of the world population is completely captured by this machine, and have developed Stockholm syndrome to the point that they'll give away their most prized work, all of their time and attention, and go along with anything these companies decide to impose, all without a fight.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Not sorry I never got much into Twitter even years before the current ownership. I basically used it to auto-tweet my YouTube uploads in an attempt to boost viewership/revenue on those (which it had a negligible at best effect on) and once they deliberately broke that feature because they wanted to keep everybody on-platform (one of the most important ways the big SM sites have broken the fundamental concept of the InterNET), I deleted my account.

I really only use Facebook, YouTube and Bluesky anymore. Facebook/Meta suck and I don't post much on it; I mainly use it to keep up with railfan groups so I can get heads ups on certain train movements (which they've tried their best to make useless because of how hard they make it to set your feeds to see stuff chronologically and keep it that way) and because my wife insists on sending me "cute" Reels in Messenger.

I used to also share my YouTube train videos in those Facebook groups, but sometime around late August of last year every group post I made with a link in it started being "held for review" (these were groups I'd been in for years and was well established as a contributor), but it would go to the admin's spam folder so they would rarely see it unless I was able to contact them and tell them where to find it. I've basically given up on this.

I use YouTube the most, and even it isn't great as has been discussed elsewhere. The mobile app is the worst. I always open it to the "Subscriptions" feed but even there they've recently jammed in a so-called "Most Relevant" section.* The ads were tolerable when they were mostly off to the side in a PC browser, with the occasional pre-roll or overlay ad that you could easily skip or click out of. Now they make it practically impossible to even watch a d*mn video on the app. Funny thing, though even though the massively expanded ad presence has made the viewer experience worse and worse, I haven't noticed any increase in revenue as a creator...

* Despite this, the Subscriptions feed (and the fact that I've set my bookmark to point to it on my PC) is really the only reason I can still watch stuff on YouTube. However even it has flaws, particularly if you are subscribed to certain people that upload a ton (I have a few like this, and they are friends of mine so I don't want to unsubscribe) they can overwhelm your feed and make it hard to find the upload from, say, the creator whose content you really like but only uploads once a week.