copyright intellectual-property terms-of-service social-media media
Can I download my own Facebook videos without using Facebook&#39;s native downloader?
<p>Each week, I livestream a video from a noncommercial Facebook business page I manage; then, I download it through Facebook's native download button (given to business pages but not personal accounts, apparently) and upload the video to YouTube. However, whenever I download my videos this way, their resolution gets lowered to 480p, compromising the picture for when I upload it to YouTube. If I could use third-party software, I could download the videos in their full resolution.</p>
<p>In a related thread, someone stated, &quot;Downloading Facebook videos are not allowed by Facebook TOS. Facebook may cancel user account if it detects account owner downloaded a Facebook video.&quot;¹ (That thread is about making EULAs, while this thread is about downloading videos I own.) However, I tried to find such a statement in Facebook's terms myself but did not find such a statement.</p>
<p>Do I have the right to use third-party software to download Facebook videos I livestreamed? Is videoconverterfactory.com correct in saying that fair use makes their software legal for downloading videos from YouTube, Facebook, etc., even to the point of overriding the terms of service, so long as it's for personal use?²</p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<p>¹ <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/14006/eula-for-global-liability">EULA for Global Liability</a></p>
<p>² <a href="https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/is-it-legal-to-download-youtube-videos.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/is-it-legal-to-download-youtube-videos.html</a></p>

<p>Every answer depends on a specific jurisdiction: my answer is for the US, but may be in part applicable to other jurisdictions. The answer is only valid until they change their terms: today is Dec. 27, 2021. The first part regards the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/terms.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Facebook TOS</a>. In §3, they state that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may not use our Products to do or share anything [t]hat violates
these Terms, our Community Standards, and other terms and policies
that apply to your use of Facebook.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This explicitly includes infringing the IP rights of another – which is not applicable in this instance. §5 includes a long list of supplemental policies related to community standards, commercial use, advertising, program development and so on, none of which appear to address how one can download content. It is probably unknowable whether there is/was/will be a version of the TOS in some jurisdiction or time that prohibits using a third party program to download content (distinct from the ban on data-mining which <em>is</em> stated), but from the stated perspective, the only restriction is that intellectual property right must be respected. However, there is no evidence that there exist any hidden prohibitions on using a third party app to download content.</p>
<p>Before leaving this, there is also a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/policies/live" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;Live&quot;</a> option that one might use. The policies for live streaming pertain to content (mainly non-deceptiveness, also a ban on looping and static content), and do not specific how a user might access such content.</p>
