A Picture's Worth: The Future of Copyright Protection of User-Generated Images on Social Media

In the current digital age, the internet is teeming with personal websites and social media posts. As more people around the world are becoming and staying connected to the internet, more stories and photos are sharing over social networking sites each second. Social media presents a ubiquitous platform to share one’s life with others, but this accessibility comes at a price. This Note examines the history and present state of copyright law, within the framework of photography, to highlight the gaps within these laws as applied to personal works of art, like personal photographs, posted to social media sites. Social media providers have gained power through their popularity among large userbases, and this Note suggests that these companies are misusing their bargaining power by requiring users to forgo their copyrights in photographs uploaded to these sites as part of user agreements. This Note provides recommendations for both national and global improvements to copyright laws and agreements for greater protect of individuals and their photographs—personal and copyrighted works of art—while still sharing their works of art through social media.