Twitter takes down SB Nation, Deadspin following complaints from UFC, NFL
@Deadspin was suspended at about 5:30 p.m. ET and returned at about 7:45 p.m., @SBNationGIF remained down as of Tuesday morning.
Deadspin’s main Twitter account @Deadspin, and @SBNationGIF, the account under which SBNation regularly publishes short GIF clips from sports events, disappeared Monday afternoon. In their place was a suspension notice. @Deadspin was suspended at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET and returned at approximately 7:45 p.m., after an appealed to Twitter. @SBNationGIF remained down as of Tuesday morning.
The takedowns came following complaints from the UFC and the NFL that brief but compelling clips of event action were in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Both Twitter accounts posted GIF animations and six-second looping Vines showing the most compelling moments in the events in question. SBNation is the parent company for a number of popular MMA sites including MMAFighting, MMAMania, and BloodyElbow.
While Twitter declined to comment on individual accounts, as is their policy, Deadspin and SBNation made available a variety of information, as did the UFC and the NFL.
In the case of Deadspin, the UFC specifically demanded Twitter “immediately disable access to the individual who has uploaded the copyright infringing content.” The clip in question was from UFC 190, and featured Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia.
UFC demanded further that “any and all accounts this individual has through you” be terminated, giving Twitter 10 minutes to reply.
The animations and videos attract new followers to the Twitter accounts in question, and attract new visitors to the publishers’ websites. However, neither publisher owns the footage. Deadspin is owned by Gawker, and SBNation by Vox. This is not a large company vs. a tiny fan, but a head to head vs large companies in an ongoing dispute over whether highlights are fair game for publishers.
It would appear that they are not.