Abstract
Copyright law in America, in its current stage of development, does not sit well with common social media practices. This article explores the copyright implications of user content on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. It first examines the copyrightability of "user-generated" content, and the broad licenses that users grant by agreeing to the vague Terms of Use that social media sites set forth. The article then looks to "user-found" content and activities such as "sharing" or "pinning" the creative works of others. Through these practices and conflicting Terms of Use, social media websites both encourage and prohibit widespread copyright infringement. With the websites likely protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbor provision, liability falls on the unknowing users. Existing copyright laws and jurisprudence do not adequately address the expanding disregard for copyrights in online forums, and only through the legislative process can these issues be addressed.