Image Usage for Social Media

Guidelines for using other people’s images on your social media including Instagram, Facebook, websites and more.

Can you use my content on social media?

The short answer: no, you may not.
Not without asking first. If you do so, it is very easy to have the content removed as Meta and other platforms have a legal obligation to respect the Intellectual Property & Copyright Legal Rights of the copyright holder (the creator of the content).

The easy way: ask. If the answer is yes, you might be asked to pay a fee for the usage. That goes for absolutely anything I have created, no matter where you have found it.

The great confusion of online content…

Just because we have it on display, doesn’t make it yours to use.

While we (artists) post our art with the intention of inspiring others, building work portfolios and sharing our heart, others come along and take it as free content to elevate their own personal profiles, businesses and brands.

Many people feel that it’s okay to take a screenshot and repost our work to their feeds as long as they mention us in the caption, or tag us on the post - and even some don’t do that.

While tagging the artist is polite, it doesn’t substitute for permission. It totally voids our own decision on if we wanted that art to be reposted. It takes away our value and our empowerment to choose what our work represents. It’s stealing, even if it’s only a digital picture.

It elevates the account in which the work is reposted on with only a screenshot’s worth of effort, while we dedicate our lives to create the art, invest heavily into the tools of the trade, pay exorbitant expenses to maintain ourselves as sole-traders and at constant practice to master a skill that is totally unique to us.

While the benefit to us is that our work gets shared and we do (rarely) gain from the exposure, it should be our choice if that transaction is to be had, not the choice of someone who wants the content free-of-charge.

This choice requires a question: “is it okay if I repost this image?”. That’s all it takes.

As artists we ought to value our work highly and so should others. The world without it is a bleak, undesirable place without art.

While looking for images to share on social media, check with the artist first. If you can’t find the artist, don’t use it.