opens the dating software, and the similar avatars of Internet celebrities make it difficult to distinguish between Li Kui and Li Gui; in the circle of friends, some people found that their photos have been stolen... April 26 is the 22nd World Intellectual Property Day, Nandu, N Video reporter’s investigation found that image piracy occurs frequently on social platforms: multiple dating platforms submit the avatar registration of Internet celebrities or celebrities, which can easily pass the review and publish updates. Behind this, there is also an industrial chain for buying and selling massive personal photos. Some e-commerce platform merchants package and sell them at prices ranging from 2 yuan to 20 or 30 yuan. The source is unknown.
Multiple related legal disputes show that some people’s original personal photos, names, contact information, etc. were stolen on social platforms, resulting in frequent phone calls, text messages, and WeChat harassment from strangers; there was also a female anchor who used photos of beautiful women purchased online to defraud male college students out of 300. Thousands. A lawyer bluntly told a Nandu reporter that stolen pictures “may be a breeding ground for fraud.”
Actual test: Multiple social platforms can be used to register and publish other people’s photos
A few days ago, a freshman in Chongqing discovered that his selfies on social platforms were commented with pictures by unfamiliar accounts and posted on online shopping platforms to praise someone. The effect of this whitening essence. After discovering that someone was impersonating him, the college student communicated with the merchant, complained to human customer service, and even made many rights protection calls. After much trouble, the merchant deleted the review. This incident has attracted attention on the Internet, with many netizens saying that they have had similar experiences, and that theft of pictures on social platforms is not an isolated case.
Nandu reporter noticed that in fact, some social platforms mentioned restrictions on image theft in their user regulations. Article 12 of the "User Civility Standards" of
dating software Taku App mentions, such as "using other people's names and portraits without authorization, infringing other people's legal rights and interests such as name rights and portrait rights, or stealing other people's identity information or account numbers, expressly or implicitly If you are identical or related to others, and if you infringe on others' legitimate rights and interests such as name rights, name rights, honor rights, portrait rights, intellectual property rights, etc., the platform has the right to deal with relevant accounts and associated accounts in accordance with Article 6 of these regulations."
Xiaohongshu Community Standards mention, "Please do not impersonate others." Its "User Service Agreement" requires that you are not allowed to impersonate others or use other people's names (including but not limited to impersonating other people's names, titles, font sizes, avatars, etc. that are sufficient to make others Create an account in a manner that causes confusion, leading to misunderstanding by others. However, its disclaimer also states, “Users uploading photos, personal information and other materials to the Internet may be copied, reproduced, tampered with or used for other illegal purposes by other organizations or individuals. Users must be fully aware of the existence of such risks. . All consequences are your own responsibility, and Xiaohongshu does not assume any responsibility for this.”
html On April 25, a Nandu reporter found on multiple social platforms that submitting other people’s photos as personal avatars on many dating software can be used. The platform reviews and publishes updates.
You can use other people’s photos to register an account on the Momo platform.
For example, if you use the avatar and name of the artist Liu Yifei to register on the Momo App, the review will be approved in two to three seconds, and you can post updates. Nandu reporters continue to test using other people’s photos to register on Momo, and the avatars will be reviewed and approved within a few seconds. Posting updates using relevant photos can also pass review.
can use other people's photos as personal high-definition avatars and publish personal dynamic content on Taqu App, another dating software, and it can be uploaded quickly and successfully. On the AiLiao App, when you upload a personal photo, a prompt will pop up saying "Promote real friendship, please upload your own photo." You can also use photos of Internet celebrities or celebrities to register and post personal updates.
You can use other people’s photos to register an account on the Xiaohongshu platform.
In the Xiaohongshu App, Nandu reporters successfully tried to change celebrity pictures as avatars in their accounts, and they can also post personal updates. However, a reporter from Nandu noticed that there is a small exclamation mark on the publishing dynamic interface that is easy to ignore. When you click on it, the "content prompt" mentions, "Notes that impersonate other people's identities or transfer other people's works will not be recommended." On Baihe.com App, I used the same celebrity photo to submit it as my personal avatar. After waiting for one day, it showed that it had not been approved. The
test found that there are also some social platforms that are relatively standardized in their operations, and using other people’s photos to register personal avatars cannot pass review.
Nandu reporters consulted the customer service of multiple social software on related issues. The customer service of Taqu App said that the accounts using celebrity photos on the platform are not the celebrities themselves and can be reported. Baihe.com App customer service stated that users need to use their own photos for avatars. “If the purpose of making friends is not pure, you can click to report.” A Nandu reporter clicked on Momo App customer service and entered the manual customer service dialog box, but failed to get a response. For community issues other than product issues on the Xiaohongshu App, after finding the "Help and Customer Service" button in its settings, there is no option to consult related issues, and there is no manual customer service option.
Case: Some people buy photos of beautiful women online and engage in fraud. Tantan Taqu and other apps are involved in image theft disputes
It is worth noting that some people use other people’s photos on social platforms, causing trouble to the people who have had the photos stolen, and even worse. Using photos of beautiful girls purchased online to commit fraud.
Nandu reporter noticed that in April 2019, the Tianjin Nankai District Court ruled on a civil infringement dispute involving Tantan App. The defendant Li used the plaintiff Ms. Ma’s personal photo, name, contact information, etc. on Tantan App without authorization. Personal information resulted in the plaintiff being frequently harassed by strangers through phone calls, text messages and WeChat. The Nankai Court ruled that Li should apologize to the plaintiff in writing and bear the plaintiff's attorney fees and case acceptance fees. The court rejected the claim for mental damages on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to provide evidence of serious consequences caused by the infringement.
A civil ruling issued by the Hangzhou Internet Court in September 2020 showed that a 23-year-old woman named Li sued the “Taqu” App for alleged infringement of portrait rights. She later filed to withdraw the lawsuit on July 29 of the same year on the grounds of reconciliation between the parties. Apply.
In December 2021, the Beijing Internet Court also issued a verdict against "stealing pictures" and impersonating others. Weibo user Minmin discovered that classmate Xiao Li frequently stole his Weibo pictures and life photos in WeChat Moments, and posted them through another Weibo The account was published, causing others to mistakenly think that it was Minmin's own account. Xiao Li used this high imitation account to post pornographic pictures in private chats with others, causing netizens who did not know the truth to mistakenly believe that Min Min was engaged in illegal transactions, which damaged Min Min's social reputation. Minmin believed that Xiao Li's behavior constituted an infringement on her reputation, so she filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Internet Court. The court ruled in the first instance that Xiao Li published an apology statement in the media, publicly apologized to Minmin, and compensated her for mental damage consolation of 10,000 yuan and lawyer fees of 5,000 yuan.
According to recent news from the Yuhua District Court in Changsha City, Hunan Province, Changsha woman Zhang stole a large number of photos of her friend Zeng Mei through Moments. After using short video editing software, she used the newly registered WeChat Moments, Douyin account and King of Glory. He posted it in many places in the game team group, and received gifts such as rockets and game equipment from those who expressed his love. He also used the stolen photos and videos of Zeng to date many people of the opposite sex in the name of love. At the end of 2021, when Zhang stole the picture, he ignored that the photo had Zeng's Weibo signature, and was later discovered by a gamer.
The court ruled that the defendant Zhang immediately stopped the infringement, issued an apology statement on Weibo, WeChat Moments, and Douyin where the infringing information was posted, and compensated Zeng for the loss of his portrait rights, solatium for mental damage, and rights protection expenses.
Nandu previously reported that in mid-June 2021, Xiao Fu (pseudonym), a 19-year-old male college student who had just broken up with his girlfriend, was in a low mood and wanted to find a girl to chat with, so he downloaded a voice chat software and looked for a female anchor to accompany him. game. Xiao Fu soon got acquainted with a voice anchor. During the chat, the anchor sent photos of his life and played games with him. Xiao Fu couldn't help but fall in love with the beautiful "goddess", and the two developed a romantic relationship.
This anchor kept encouraging Xiaofu to give her gifts, and also asked Xiaofu to lend her money for reasons such as house renovations and illness. But the two never met, and there was no video chat, just voice calls. From mid-June to August 1, Xiao Fu made a total of 94 transfers. Excluding the 285,400 yuan returned by the other party, he was defrauded of a total of 3.18 million yuan. On the evening of August 1, after Xiaofu transferred 200 yuan to the anchor, he asked for a video meeting with him again but was rejected. Only then did he realize that he might have been cheated. After repeated questioning by him, the anchor admitted that he had lied to him, asked Xiao Fu not to call the police, and promised to return the loan. On the morning of August 2, Xiao Fu and his parents reported the case to the Choucheng Police Station of the Yiwu City Public Security Bureau.
html On the morning of August 21, with the assistance of the Shanghai police, the police arrested Huang in a hotel room. After investigation, Huang is 24 years old and usually works as an anchor on a voice chat platform. In order to better attract men to chat and reward her, she purchased "beautiful photos" from the Internet as avatars and photo materials. According to the policeman handling the case, while Huang was "in love" with Xiao Fu, he also maintained "romantic relationships" with several other men. The cumulative amount involved in the case is estimated to exceed 5 million yuan. At that time, Huang was under criminal detention on suspicion of fraud. Behind : Someone packages and sells social platform persona photos at low prices. The source is unknown.
In addition to stealing from Moments, where do these large numbers of fraudulently used photos come from? Nandu reporters further investigated and found that someone behind this specifically packaged and sold a large number of related photos, and the seller claimed to have collected them online.
A reporter from Nandu found that when searching for the keyword "beauty collection" on the e-commerce platform, merchants sold a large number of personal photos. Most of the product descriptions were "obtaining beauty materials at one time", "high-definition photo collection" and "hundred people collection", with prices ranging from The price ranges from 2 yuan to 20 to 30 yuan, most of which are less than 10 yuan, and the photo materials range from a few hundred gigabytes to several thousand gigabytes.
searched with the keyword "beauty collection" and found merchants selling a large number of personal photos. In the description of the
product page, a merchant issued a statement saying, "It cannot be used for commercial purposes and cannot be disseminated in major forums." "If the original author or rights holder of the material believes that it infringes upon his or her rights, it will be removed from the shelves, but this does not violate copyright laws. responsibility".
Nandu reporter asked one of the sellers. He denied that the photos were stolen, saying that they were "collected by himself" and would be "continuously updated". He also said that using them on personal social platforms is "no problem" and "the chance of being discovered is very small." . After
paid, the seller sent the network disk group number and said that it could be downloaded through the group file. Nandu reporters saw that according to the instructions of the merchant, they joined the "Internet Celebrity Beauty 300G Group". In the group files, various personal photos and videos were classified and labeled as "Amateur Photos", "Weibo Celebrities", etc., involving a large number of different heights, Female profile photos.
Nandu reporter checked and found that some of these personal photos had not yet had their watermarks removed, and the source could be seen. Following the ID watermark in the photos, they found the user of the social platform and found that he was a fashion blogger, and his profile stated " Those who steal pictures will be investigated."
What is noteworthy is that the image theft phenomenon has also spread to short video social platforms.
A reporter from Nandu searched for similar keywords on the Yipin group buying platform and found that for a few yuan, you can also buy "personal video materials", "Douyin materials" and other products. The page shows the images of different women and claims to be watermark-free and high-definition. The product shows that it will be shipped automatically after being photographed, but the merchant’s customer service refused to respond to questions about the source of the material.
Extension: Image theft not only occurs on social platforms, but also in online stores.
Internet image theft does not only occur on social platforms. There are also frequent cases of stolen images being sold in online stores.
During the 2021 "Double Eleven" online shopping festival, Nandu reporters investigated and found that there was plagiarism in the pictures of popular online shopping products. Mr. Fang, the owner of
Taobao store, told Nandu reporters that the pictures of clothing models and product pages in his online store were stolen, which has become his biggest "worry". “I just released a hot product, and the whole set (pictures and even store design) was immediately removed by other platform merchants. Some even had the same product title and web page details, and then marked a lower price to sell the products that liked my store’s clothing. Customers 'robbed' them away."
A Nandu reporter's investigation found that the phenomenon of stealing pictures and copying stores has extended from clothing products in the hardest-hit areas to other categories such as curtains, shelves, and bags. In addition, in addition to "stealing pictures" within the platform, cross-platform theft of pictures and copying stores is also not uncommon.
In this type of behavior, it is more difficult for the "stolen" merchants to defend their rights, and some people are suing in court for this.
Mr. Sun, an online store merchant in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, found that the pictures he took of the entire store's shelves were stolen by a store on another e-commerce platform. The merchant who allegedly stole the pictures "perfectly copied" his own store, and the other store showed monthly sales of more than 9,000 orders. Based on this quantity, the sales volume amounted to more than 2 million yuan.Mr. Sun reported the other party to the Changshu Market Supervision Bureau, which opened a case for investigation on the grounds of suspected violation of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Trademark Law.
Changshu Market Supervision Bureau believes that the behavior of pirated image merchants has affected the fair and orderly competition order and caused certain misleading to consumers. Their behavior constitutes "confused behavior" stipulated in the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law", and decided Merchants who steal pictures will be fined 50,000 yuan.
Many merchants expressed to Nandu reporters that they hope that major e-commerce platforms can have a coordinated processing mechanism, and they also hope that regulatory authorities can increase their investigation and punishment efforts to curb store plagiarism and popular plagiarism that disrupt the normal market competition order.
Opinion: Platform protection responsibilities must be tightened
Yang Enxiong, a lawyer at Guangdong Green Law Firm, once told Nandu reporters that stolen pictures "may be a breeding ground for fraud."
"I have come across some criminal cases involving fraud through Moments. Some people will 'package' themselves through social platforms such as Moments. After gaining the victim's trust, they will then defraud the victim of their property through borrowing money, selling goods, selling services, etc. "Some people will be deemed as fraud by the judicial authorities." Yang Enxiong believes that everyone has the right to choose how to live their own life, but if they infringe on the rights of others while exercising their own rights, they need to bear legal responsibility.
Regarding the image piracy behavior of platform merchants, Liu Bin, a partner at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm and a senior intellectual property lawyer, believes that image piracy is just an act of stealing pictures in form, but in essence, it maliciously seizes other people's stores. traffic”, misleading customers. This kind of "free riding" behavior not only harms the legitimate rights and interests of others, but also destroys the fair market competition environment and constitutes unfair competition.
Liu Bin said that under the Internet conditions, this kind of infringement and counterfeiting is easier and more convenient, spreads faster, and causes more serious damage consequences. Therefore, if there is no strict punishment in proportion, it will definitely destroy the innovative soil of my country's digital economy. cause significant harm.
In order to rectify and standardize the illegal use of stolen images on the Internet, on April 11, China Court Network published a commentary article arguing that efforts should be made in three aspects before, during and after the incident.
First, we must raise awareness of personal information protection. The release of personal information is the "source" of stolen images. It should be used as standardized as possible to reduce the risk of leakage. When using social media, try to upload low-resolution photos to avoid reuse of photos. When using high-definition photos, you must look for legitimate websites to increase the cost of stealing pictures.
must also implement platform protection responsibilities. Platforms are the "gatekeepers" of personal information. They must take multiple measures to improve the level of protection and live up to the trust of Internet users. Article 51 of the Personal Information Protection Law, which was implemented on November 1 last year, clearly states that platforms must take measures to protect personal information. Internet regulatory authorities should increase the intensity and frequency of supervision, promote platforms to implement measures such as classified management, confidentiality protection, and authority management, and further consolidate the platform's responsibility to protect personal information.
At the same time, there must be smooth and convenient reporting channels. "The eyes of the masses are sharp." The first subject of damage caused by stolen images is individuals. We must mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses to the maximum extent, give full play to the role of the Internet in co-construction and governance, and improve the efficiency of investigation and punishment. It is necessary to unblock platform reporting platforms, increase cooperation with market supervision and management departments, provide convenience in evidence collection, report acceptance and punishment, reduce the cost and energy of injured parties to defend their rights, and prevent all parties from "collective silence" on the phenomenon of image theft due to limited means. ".
Produced by: Nandu Instant
Written and written by: Nandu reporters Huang Chibo, Ma Minglong, Yu Yijing, Yang Tianzhi, intern Wu Daya
