Anime Fans Receive Legal Copyright Strikes For Posting Screenshots And Fan-arts On Twitter

On January 8, 2021, Shueisha issued multiple copyright strikes to an enormous number of Twitter accounts. Fans started getting copyright strikes for as much as sharing images or gifs related to shows like One Piece or Dragon Ball. Not only that but even an artist paid by Shueisha who made official Dragon Ball artworks got one. Moreover, thanks to that the hashtag “Shueisha” is currently trending in Japan.

You can see some tweets related to the issue below:

My twitter account was locked once
I went back because I checked the copyright policy
I don't know when it will be erased.
If it is erased, it will not be revived.
Bye bye minna…🥲

— ふぇにょん (@fenyo_n) January 8, 2021

So not sure if you've heard, but someone at Shueisha has decided to copyright strike and threaten a massive amount of Twitter accounts for just sharing images related to One Piece as a franchise. They even copyright striked my own profile picture. Are we joking?? pic.twitter.com/C3BA2JwIHI

— Artur – Library of Ohara (@newworldartur) January 8, 2021

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

A GIF.
I got locked down by SHUEISHA on Twitter for a GIF.

If they can do this once they can do it again and ill lose my account for SHARING A DRAGON BALL GIF.

Watch out guys. pic.twitter.com/K67Lyjkkob

— RoseScape 🌸💖 (@BlackScapeRose) January 7, 2021

One of the countless Twitter users who are anime fans made a small list of the shows you should avoid posting stuff from:

https://twitter.com/eboyitadori/status/1347456112983998464?s=20

What’s more, Shueisha copyright strikes at fans and the copyright law aren’t really related to each other according to a number of people:

These DCMA's for Dragon Ball content is not because of the new laws in Japan that came into effect on Jan 1.

In fact, these new laws have exemptions for GIFs, images, and more "where it is recognized that [the use] does not unduly harm the interests of the copyright holder."

— Dazza (@DoctorDazza) January 8, 2021

The copyright law that started from Jan 1st doesn't have anything to do with fanart.

It's more about uploads.

Uploading an entire chapter of a manga is illegal, but using a portion of a page for your profile pic, making a meme etc. That's fine. That was what the law was about.

— On Takahashi （高橋温） (@OnTakahashi) January 8, 2021

It’s just my personal opinion, but I think it’s probably the work of a bot that’s supposed to search for art/keywords and make DMCA hits on its own. It’s most likely not that Shueisha hits people directly, but it’s a mistake that we hope they’ll fix as soon as possible. Let’s just wait for the official statement and see how things move forward.

Source: Twitter