People use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram more than ever to connect and share cultural practices and teachings with each other. This includes everything from stories and teachings to art, spiritual practices, language and more.
Sharing on social media can open doors and connect us, but publicly shared content on these platforms also creates risks, such as cultural appropriation, that you may not have considered.
Unfortunately, anyone can take publicly posted content and share it without your knowledge or use it in many forms for their own benefit. It can be used for corporate gain, data mining, advertising, or even sold to others, so it is important to know how to protect your content.
In Canada, the creator of the content keeps the rights to original work but if your material is shared elsewhere the laws may be different. In addition, images and other content you share online may not be stored within Canada, which means that your content can be subject to foreign laws.
Here are some tips to reduce the risks:
• Ask if your community or organization has a social media policy. If not, work with them to create clear guidelines on what should and should not be shared on each platform.
• Use video and audio conferencing to share information without posting it permanently.
• Create private social media accounts for your community (Facebook pages, YouTube channels, etc.)
• Protect sensitive content by sharing via email or in private social media groups that are only accessible to your community by invitation or login only.
• Include disclaimers to your social channels and to posts when you share content: “For educational / community / artist use only. Not to be shared or reproduced without permission.” Include copyright and acknowledgement if it is relevant. If someone does share your content, this will help you when you file a request to have it removed.
• If someone uses your content without permission, request that they remove the post and if they don’t, report it for copyright infringement.
• Consider adding your logo or watermark to images so they are not easily shared without crediting you for your work.
Learn more:
• Read Facebook FAQs on copyright here.
• Read Google’s copyright policy here.
• Check out these articles for more detail on copyright and social media:
How Copyright works with Social Media
Copyright Laws in Canada: How to Protect Your Copyright
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