đ° New article from TorrentFreak
Storm Chasers Sue Meta for Ignoring Repeat Infringements of Popular Accounts
Letâs be real: if youâve ever posted a video of a tornado and watched some mega-account steal it for cloutâand Meta shrugâitâs not just annoying. Itâs now lawsuit-level infuriating.
Enter Brandon Clement and a crew of storm chasers whoâve spent years watching their heart-pounding, weather-beaten footage get ripped off by viral aggregators on Facebook and Instagram. They sent hundreds of thousands of DMCA takedown notices. Meta? Mostly ignored themâsometimes even blocking the creators for âgoing too fastâ with takedowns. Yes, you read that right: too fast.
The complaint? A smoking gun of alleged corporate hypocrisy. Leaked docs show Meta lets high-revenue accounts rack up 500 strikes before acting, while small advertisers get axed after eight. And now? Theyâre allegedly calling fair use on a two-minute watermarked storm surge video⌠and leaving it up. For profit.
The plaintiffs arenât just madâtheyâre suing for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement. With statutory damages of $150K per work? Weâre talking millions. And Metaâs silence so far is louder than a tornado siren.
This isnât just about weather videos. Itâs about whether platforms can pick and choose who gets protectedâwhile cashing in on the chaos. The stormâs coming. And Meta? Itâs not ready for it.