Deadspin and SBNation Twitter accounts suspended for posting sports GIFs in NFL licensing row
The Twitter accounts of Gawker Media's sports outlet Deadspin and Vox Media’s SBNation were suspended following a flurry of copyright complaints from the NFL.
Both sites regularly share GIFs and short clips of sports highlights on Twitter. In particular, NFL clips (on Monday) became the focus of a zealous takedown campaign.
While Deadspin's account was been reactivated after around three hours, SBNation remains suspended at the time of publication.
John Cook, Gawker Media executive editor, told Re/code: “We got 18 takedown notices about 16 tweets. All of the tweets included GIFs, and all of the requests were filed by the NFL.
“The account was reinstated after we appealed the deactivation. The tweets in question are still up, but Twitter has of its own accord stripped them of the allegedly offending GIFs. All in all, the account was, in Twitter’s words, ‘permanently suspended’ from 5:30 pm to 7:45 pm [EST].”
The NFL confirmed its part in the removal of said GIFs: “The NFL sent routine notices as part of its copyright enforcement program requesting that Twitter disable links to more than a dozen pirated NFL game videos and highlights that violate the NFL’s copyrights.
“We did not request that any Twitter account be suspended.”
The crackdown comes after Twitter and the NFL in August entered a two year partnership to bring match highlights as part of its Amplify feature.