Several UK Facebook pages and groups are to be investigated for alleged copyright infringement, following suspicions that such pages have been reproducing protected news articles word-for-word.
The investigations will mainly probe ‘far-right’ and ‘hate-inciting’ Facebook groups, which are believed to have repeatedly taken articles from established news sites, including the Daily Star, and rebranded them as their own in a ‘copy and paste’ manner.
Far-right Facebook pages to be investigated include Britain’s First, Christian Fightback News, Counter Jihad UK and Patriot News Hub, according to reports.
Such groups are allegedly unlawfully making money from pay-per-click advertising without referencing or back-linking the original source of the articles.
Facebook UK’s own terms and conditions state the following, under section 5 of ‘Protecting Other People’s Rights”:
- You will not post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law.
- If you repeatedly infringe other people’s intellectual property rights, we will disable your account when appropriate.
A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed that the social media giant will investigate the alleged infringements, after a number of duplicate articles were produced as potential evidence. Whether further action will be taken remains yet to be seen.