Twitter: Jokes Are Copyrighted, Stolen Jokes Being Removed

Twitter is making it clear that jokes are copyrighted, “Removing Stolen Tweets” and replacing them with a message stating that “This tweet… has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder,” according to a report from Engadget.


To be clear, Twitter’s copyright policy is not new, but this is the first confirmed instance of a joke theft reported to Twitter being addressed and of the original author being called a “copyright holder.” It represents an important milestone for those who make their living writing comedy on the internet; plagiarism is a regular fact of life for online writers, and there is often very little to be done about it. Twitter says jokes are copyrighted, and their enforcement of their copyright policy on Twitter joke thieves and bots is a big step forward.