Be careful what Fox Sports video clips you share on X (formerly Twitter) or YouTube. The sports cable network has apparently gotten aggressive with copyright takedown notices.
Sports blog Awful Announcing reported that popular X account @nocontextcfb (no context college football) was sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claim by Fox because of a clip that he posted.
“Absolutely ridiculous and pathetic behavior from these guys. not much else I can do…,” the nocontextcfb account posted.
While media companies file takedown notices on a regular basis, they typically target large accounts or businesses. While @nocontextcfb is popular, with more than 213,000 followers, it isn’t necessarily a high-profile account. Awful Announcing pointed to several other smaller accounts that also received takedown notices from Fox, suggesting it’s a widespread move.
Fox’s move raises the question of how far is too far when going after individual social media accounts for sharing video clips. While the clips are legitimately the property of a media company like Fox, the act of sharing also raises the awareness of that game and is generally beneficial to everyone involved.
In the case of @nocontextcfb, the account didn’t even rip the video from the broadcast. It just reposted a video already shared by the Fox College Football account. When the account followed up with Fox Sports, it resulted in even mroe aggressive takedown requests related to older posts.
A spokesperson for Fox Sports wasn’t immediately available to comment on the takedown practice.