Bipartisan group of Representatives sends letter to Twitter CEO about copyright infringement on the platform

By Emmanuel Legrand

A group of 22 members of the House of Representatives from both parties have sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "regarding the ongoing problem of copyright infringement on Twitter and the platform’s apparent refusal to address it." The bipartisan group is asking Dorsey how he intends to "effectively address these concerns."

  The letter states that while creative content drives engagement on Twitter, the service "has not acquired licenses necessary to ensure that all creators are properly compensated for use of their works." The August 2 letter lists three questions for which Representatives expect a response by August 27. 

  The letter is part of a wider attempt from Representatives to hold Twitter accountable for the content it helps disseminate. Dorsey was quizzed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2021 and the CEO dodged most questions. 

Comply with DMCA obligations

  Representatives of trade organisations such as David Israelite, President and CEO of the National Music Publishers' Association, or Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, have expressed their frustration at the difficulty to simply start a discussion with Twitter about unlicensed content. 

  In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said: "Making Twitter a productive and rewarding place for artists is important to us. We dedicate significant resources to quickly respond to copyright takedown notices and comply with its legal obligations, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). We’re committed to providing transparency around the unlawful uses of copyrighted material on our service, and we’ll continue to partner with artists, rights holders, and elected officials on these issues."

  "Their response is a joke," tweeted Israelite, in reaction to Twitter's statement.

Well-documented infringement problem

  For the signatories, led by Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Twitter's "problem of infringement is well-documented," noting that in the first half of last year alone, Twitter itself reported receiving notices identifying 1.6 million infringements. 

  The letter reads: "Additional infringing content almost certainly goes undiscovered as Twitter has taken the unprecedented step of charging creators for a fully functional search API that can identify instances infringement at scale. To be clear, the standard API Twitter offers free of charge is of such limited functionality that it cannot provide meaningful results at the scale of infringement occurring on the platform."

  It adds: "While Twitter offers a more sophisticated API to academic researchers for free, it denies these tools to creators whose infringed works help generate revenue for the company. Between refusing to pay creators for their works and obstructing their discovery of infringing works, it appears that unauthorised use of copyrighted works is an unacknowledged part of Twitter’s business model."

Pay to license the content

  The signatories suggest that a more "targeted measure" that Twitter could put in place to "help its users benefit from their creativity" would be for the company "to pay to license the content on its platform."

  For the Representatives, not only being fully license would "improve user experience by granting lawful access to copyrighted works, but it would also ensure that rights holders are properly compensated for their contribution to the content."

  The letter thus recommends Twitter to enter into licensing agreements "to avoid the status quo in which creators rely on crowd-funded donations while Twitter continues to profit from infringement of their works." The letter goes on: "Given the pervasiveness of this issue, we would like to have a better understanding of how Twitter intends to effectively address these concerns." 

Implement robust content protection measures

  Representatives are asking Twitter to provide answers to three specific questions: 

  1. What will Twitter do to enable content owners to meaningfully search for and identify infringement of their works at a scale commensurate with the amount of infringing tweets occurring on the platform at no additional cost to them?  

  2. Tweets can be uploaded in a fraction of a second, and hundreds of millions are posted to Twitter every day. What is Twitter doing to ensure that takedown notices are addressed in a manner that corresponds with that speed and volume?  

  3. Will Twitter add robust content protection technology across all of its platforms and implement it effectively to decrease the posting and reposting of infringing content?

  The letter to Dorsey was signed by Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Billy Long (R-Mo.), Greg Pence (R-Ind.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)  and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).