Unauthorized use by others of copyright protected art and other creative content has been a problem for years. This theft is especially egregious when that unauthorized use is for commercial purposes.
The federal Copyright Office knows enforcement of valuable copyright laws is still catching up with the internet age. Artists are leading the campaigns to raise awareness with lawmakers, and staff from the Copyright Office are involved in these discussions. Improvements in enforcing these laws started with new Small Claims court options CASE Act that launched in 2020. https://www.copyright.gov/about/small-claims/
This blog followed the development of the CASE Act, which you can find here: https://stuartngbooks.blogspot.com/2021/02/case-act-is-now-law-now-what.html
Online art theft problems started with the business model for social media and other popular online platforms. These business models are designed on engagement with content that the platform gets for free. The platforms profit from "likes & shares" of user-provided content, and from ads the companies can target to their users. Users trade access to their content in exchange for free use of the platform/social media service (The details of this arrangement are constantly being updated and can be found in the sites the Terms of Service (TOS).)
As these sites evolved... the value of that copyright protected content provided by the users did too. And this default setting of: No consent. No credit. No compensation for the images etc. set consumers and artists up for copyright infractions. No user ever had a choice to "opt out" of access to their content. Instead, companies argue that use of the site implies consent by users for unreported, uncredited, uncompensated content access -- and massive profits for the site and 3rd parties.
Ignoring the value of the artistic rights, and the protections of copyright laws, seems essential to the success of this business model. Years later, the problem has only gotten worse. This ongoing issue reveals at least ethical, if not moral, shortcomings from those in charge of creating these platforms.
The proliferation of AI generated images amplifies the theft, the harm, and the risks for consumers.
Do. Not. Steal.
Would it have been that hard to make sure creative content posted to the platforms includes creator credit and links back to original sources/sites???
That small change would have demonstrated some ethical/moral awareness on the part of the companies.
Instead... artists have had to become the front lines in the fight for creative rights protections for everyone who posts online.
Fans who are educated about creative rights are a power ally in this fight. Their proactive defense of the artists they love and respect has been growing over the years too.
Fans alert artists to unauthorized use of the artist's images. This includes cases where scammers use fake companies based on stolen artwork, or major retailers have copied artwork to use on products... You can read a case studies of these in the copyright section of this post on artist rights: https://stuartngbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/indie-art-life-artist-rights-self-care.html
Fans help with the endless rounds of "whack a mole" with 3rd parties stealing images to make rip-offs of the artists work via shady online links or stores.
Stay informed on all the work for stronger laws and regulations. This link from HumanAristryCampAIgn has news on proposed legislation regarding "deep fakes" in the works: https://www.humanartistrycampaign.com/news.
Concept Art Association has this advocacy page on their website https://www.conceptartassociation.com/advocacy
Info on the News/Media Alliance (formerly the Newspaper Assoc of America) "Support Responsible AI" campaign here: https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/support-responsible-ai-campaign/
Educated fans have a powerful voice in raising awareness.
Fans also post call-outs on comments threads. This helps raise awareness with the general public about artists rights. It also warns those stealing the art that this behavior isn't as anonymous, or harmless, as they assume.
Here's an example of a post where a page shared uncredited artwork... and fans called this out in the comments thread.
It's not just artists with work at risk.
Everyone who posts online is sharing images and content set in a fixed form -- valuable intellectual property that has copyright protections (especially when those copyrights are registered). https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html
Know your rights.
Raise awareness. https://doggiedrawings.net/products/why-say-no-to-generative-ai?fbclid=
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