Vanessa Fowler, online editor
Like many others, I am guilty of spending several hours a day on TikTok instead of doing more productive things. The other day when I was aimlessly scrolling, I saw a user live streaming “Spider-Man: No Way Home” from a Movie2k website with thousands of viewers joining in for the free movie viewing.
I found this very interesting. I had never seen someone use a live stream to pirate movies before. And once I saw the first user do it, I saw even more people hop on this trend. Some of the other movies I have seen on TikTok include Disney’s “Encanto,” “Matrix: Resurrection,” “Sing 2,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “West Side Story” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” In the past three days alone, I have noticed twelve different users put on their TikTok page, “Live Event with ‘insert movie title here’” and then proceed to live stream movies that are still in theaters or exclusives on different streaming sites, such as HBOMax.
TikTok is a well-known social media site reaching over 1 billion people on the internet. It is an addicting and engaging app with users creating viral content trying to gain large numbers of views. Live streaming movies is just another way to gain attention on accounts.
Now it is fairly common for movies to be pirated on various illegal sites like 123Movies, however it is surprising to find the movies being showcased on a social media app – not just in links to these sites, but a user of the app using the live stream feature to transmit these movies to thousands of other users.
Instead of watching these movies on illegal sites (which of course none of us have ever done), there is now the option of waiting for a TikTok user to potentially live stream the movie you want to see. Though it does depend on luck because unless the user schedules the event in advance, you have to wait and see if you find a live stream while scrolling.
Still, this new form of piracy has users playing a dangerous game due to the public nature of TikTok. In the early 2000s, there were piracy ads with phrases like “you wouldn’t steal a car” or “you wouldn’t steal a purse” in order to demonstrate how recording and distributing movies for free or a lesser price is considered stealing, but called piracy.
Those who are live streaming the movie would be held responsible if caught. TikTok and viewers tuning into the live streams on the other hand would not be liable according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This act was implemented in 1998 to serve as protection to both copyright owners and online service providers. Provisions have been put in place for service providers to avoid violation of copyright ownership in order to avoid lawsuits when a user violates the copyright on their site.
One example of these provisions is called “notice-and-takedown.” What this means is that the service provider, in this case TikTok, would need to give the notice to the content creator, the user live streaming movies, in order for their service to avoid copyright infringement. However, this would be a large challenge considering once a live stream is over, there is no proof of the copyright infringement taking place.
Even if a user were caught with this notice and takedown, there is nothing stopping them from simply creating a new account to do the same thing as they were. I understand the idea behind live streaming movies that are still in theaters for people who do not feel comfortable going back to the cinema and even sympathize with not wanting to pay for a hundred different streaming services like HBO Max, Netflix or Disney Plus.
After all, having to pay for all of them does make an impact on bank accounts over time, but it does not change the fact that the use of the Live Stream feature to showcase movies is a violation of copyright and a form of piracy.