Twitter yesterday "temporarily suspended the main account run by Gawker Media’s Deadspin sports site, which had been sharing GIF and video highlights of NFL games," according to Kulwin & Wagner of RE/CODE. Deadspin "received more than a dozen takedown notices from the NFL." Gawker Media Exec Editor John Cook in an email wrote, "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." An NFL spokesperson confirmed that the league "lodged the complaints because Deadspin was infringing on NFL copyrights, but was puzzled over Twitter’s decision to take down" the account. Twitter and the NFL "work together to bring sanctioned clips to the service, as part of a two-year deal they signed in August." Meanwhile, Twitter last weekend "also suspended an account, @SBNationGIF, run by Vox Media-owned SB Nation for posting GIFs of college football highlights." The account has yet "to be reactivated." SB Nation "received eight takedown notices from XOS Digital, which owns various college football digital broadcasting rights and represents the SEC and Big 12 conferences" (RECODE.net, 10/12). In DC, Des Bieler wrote reaction online to the accounts being suspended "was overwhelmingly derisive of the NFL." However, the league "was not alone in filing DMCA complaints against the two Twitter accounts." The N.Y. Times' Daniel Victor tweeted, "In addition to NFL complaints, UFC filed a takedown notice against @Deadspin. Big 12 and SEC complained about @SBNationGIF" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 10/12).
LONG TIME COMING: The WALL STREET JOUNRAL's Steven Perlberg notes publishers "have for years embedded clips from sporting events on their sites and social media accounts," but leagues and rights-holders "are getting more aggressive." Twitter during the '14 FIFA World Cup "suspended multiple Vine accounts belonging to SBNation" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/13).
