copyright united-kingdom
Photographs on social media being altered and reposted
<p>What protections are available for images owned by me and published via social media when they are taken, edited, then re-published?</p>

<p>For example I publish an image which belongs to me on Facebook. 
The image is then taken, modified, and republished.</p>

<p>The image is edited with comments beneath them which causes upset and alarm to me and close family.</p>

<p>Assuming you own the copyright; none. Under the Facebook terms and conditions, you gave Facebook a royalty-free licence in perpetuity to do whatever they want with everything you post, including sub-licensing it.</p>

<p>It's not necessarily a copyright issue, but if the person causes harm to your reputation through injurious falsehoods, you may have a claim of <strong>defamation</strong>; if they persist in this kind of behaviour, you may have a claim of <strong>harassment</strong>.</p>

<p>Defamation, or libel, would depend on whether the statements cause your standing within your community to diminish, and on whether the statements are untrue.</p>

<p>Harassment depends on, among other things, whether they have done this before and whether this causes you to feel distressed, humiliated, or threatened.</p>

<p>Remember that despite terms and conditions, you cannot contract outside of a law; such terms are illegal and void.</p>
