Twitter Deletes Jokes, Claims Copyright Violation

Twitter has been deleting some tweets on the grounds that the content – jokes first published by others – violated its copyright policy. One user, Olga Lexell, works as a freelance writer in LA, and when she saw other users passing her jokes off as their own she reported them to Twitter. Lexell said most of the offending users were actually “spam” accounts that repost other people’s jokes hundreds of times a day. Typical copyright claims through Twitter involve photos or video. Digital Millenium Copyright Act claims for 140-character statements are much rarer.