Twitter

[Straf]

Twitter have announced a change to their terms of service from 2nd October. I had a quick look through and this jumped out at me:

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.

I don't know if this was here before but it looks like as with just about all social media they have decided anything posted to the platform comes with an open licence for them to do with whatever they like. Royalty-free with the right to sublicense gives them the right to sell, lease or whatever they like. In theory posting a map to Twitter hands them all the rights to that map and they can sell it to, for example HBO, for $10m and the original artist wouldn't get a bean. Or a potato if they don't like beans.

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.

This gives Twitter the right to use someone's creation for promoting their own services or the services of other companies that they grant a license to.

Twitter has an evolving set of rules for how ecosystem partners can interact with your Content on the Services. These rules exist to enable an open ecosystem with your rights in mind. You understand that we may modify or adapt your Content as it is distributed, syndicated, published, or broadcast by us and our partners and/or make changes to your Content in order to adapt the Content to different media. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the rights granted herein to any Content that you submit.

When you submit something to Twitter you are granting them indemnity by declaring that you own the exclusive rights to whatever you post so if someone sues HBO/Twitter for copyright infringement then they aren't liable but you are.


I think the CG Twitter account should be carefully reviewed especially where showcasing of commissioned works are concerned. I'd be well narked if I had made a map for a book that had been put on Twitter and the publishing company paid Twitter royalties instead of me.