The Cost of Content Theft
Protecting what you post online might seem unnecessary or even pointless, given how much content is out there. Much of what we create may seem like a drop in the bucket, both among all the pictures and video we take on a daily, or weekly basis, and the number of people who are doing the same by posting and sharing their work.
That can feel especially true when creating memes, those base delights of the online content consumer. Whatever one thinks of the form, memes are perhaps the universal language of the internet, and as such, popular memes and meme creators can become stars in their own right. But trafficking in any form of content is fraught; for to garner attention for your work requires sharing on the part of countless others, and each share increases the chance that attribution is lost or dropped, intentionally or not.
Take the case of two of Instagram’s more famous meme accounts that built their following on the backs of memes and jokes that originated with others, which is a more generous way of saying that both have been accused of joke theft for years. While passing off others’ work as your own is bad enough if you’re simply looking for attention and plaudits, both have parlayed the following they built “curating” content into lucrative careers.
For those that had their work misappropriated, there was a tangible loss in having someone else profit from their work. They might not have generated the tens of thousands of dollars that come from taking the best and most popular work and repackaging it in one spot. However, each creator that had their work stolen lost out on an opportunity to build their own audience on the strength of their original work; casual Instagram users that don’t have the bandwidth or inclination to think about content theft are more than happy to follow a single page for the memes they want to see.
Content creators need to be able to protect their work and prove their ownership to fend off potential theft, and that is where RightsLedger can help. RightsLedger allows users to register their content ownership on the blockchain to prove its authenticity and prevent potential infringement and theft. Its decentralized fingerprinting solution gives users the confidence to share uploaded work without having to worry about a lack of recourse against misuse. And the global marketplace offers a new venue for creators to share and monetize their work for those tired of having to rely on platforms that do nothing to punish bad actors.
The only person who should be profiting off of your work is you, and RightsLedger will make sure that you own your content.
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