Twitter suspended the accounts of Deadspin and SBnationGIF, an account linked to Vox-owned SB Nation, on Monday. Both accounts were reportedly suspended for copyright violations stemming from their use of GIFs of NFL games.
Both accounts for the Gawker-owned Deadspin and SBnationGIF were inaccessible Monday. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on matters pertaining to individual accounts, but multiple reports cited the NFL as the source of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices that resulted in the suspensions. Copyright owners, including sports leagues, often use DMCA notices to ask companies hosting copyrighted material -- in this case, Twitter -- to remove the content in question.
.@Deadspin and @SBnationGIF @Twitter accounts suspended. pic.twitter.com/4MCd3PB0bJ— Simon Ostler (@SimonOstler) October 12, 2015
Per @Terr (who runs the @deadspin account), the NFL sent Twitter 18 DMCA takedown notices related to Deadspin posting NFL highlights GIFs.— Peter Sterne (@petersterne) October 12, 2015
Lacey Donohue, executive managing editor at Gawker, also confirmed the NFL was the source of the DMCA, which resulted in the suspension.
RE: @Deadspin: per the notice from Twitter, it looks like it's the NFL.— Lacey Donohue (@laceydonohue) October 12, 2015
An NFL spokesperson confirmed to Mashable it had sent "routine notices" to Twitter with requests to disable links to NFL games. "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," an NFL spokesperson wrote in an email. "We did not request that any Twitter account be suspended."
Deadspin's account was reinstated Monday evening. The account did not immediately comment directly on its brief absence, but its first tweet was a link to GIFs of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
TEST ... TEST ... http://t.co/VKN0osQQXl pic.twitter.com/BOStDQQ4yr— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 13, 2015
The account for SBnationGIF was still suspended at the time of writing.
Twitter and the NFL have been partners for some time, but the two recently announced an expansion of their partnership centered around video and news in August.
Major sports leagues have had a fraught relationship with social media when it comes to sharing live video, particularly clips of games. The Professional Golf Association revoked the press credentials of a blogger earlier this year after she live streamed a practice round during the tour on Periscope.
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Twitter fielded 66 takedown requests over users live streaming via Periscope during the much-hyped boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao alone, the company told Mashable at the time.
It's not clear where GIFs stand on the spectrum of fair use as it relates to copyright law. One media law expert Mashable spoke with said that sports GIFs don't necessarily present a clear case for fair use, though there are arguments to be made on both sides.
Many onlookers on Twitter were not impressed by the NFL's attempts to silence the popular GIF-creators.
Domestic violence is cool but don't you dare make a gif of any NFL games. https://t.co/GOlwQOGaPT— Long Island's Capo (@JeffreyKleiman) October 12, 2015
If it's true that the NFL asked twitter to suspend accounts tweeting gifs & vines, then they are so, so, so stupid— Alec (@alecfwilson) October 13, 2015
The NFL just suspended Deadspin for using GIFs but won't suspend its players for domestic violence and DUI charges. Nicely done Mr. Goodell.— Joe Rossman (@Joe_Rossman) October 12, 2015
Really dumb decision by @nfl and @twitter to suspend deadspin. Nfl doesn't want free marketing apparently.— Chris Wilson (@chillyw) October 12, 2015
Additional reporting by Jason Abbruzzese.