This article is more than a long time coming.
As a millennial who enjoys spending way too much time on the internet, I often find myself going to Buzzfeed- with everything from news stories to quizzes, the site really does have something for everyone. However, over the past few months or so, I was shocked to find out that some of my favorite pieces on the site were blatant copies of smaller content creators ideas. When one such content creator (Jaclyn Glenn) called Buzzfeed out over social media, I was even more shocked to see their petty and childish response.
In early September of 2017, Jaclyn Glenn released her Fullscreen TV show, The Skeptic’s Guide to Wellness. Over the course of the show, she explores the many types of alternative medicine, including Wicca. However, in late September, Buzzfeed released a video titled “We Practiced Magic With A Real Witch”, and it was essentially a direct copy of Jaclyn’s video on Wicca. From the witchcraft shop that was visited, to the activities that were participated in, to even the wall where the video outro and testimonials were filmed, there were way too many similarities for it to merely be a coincidence. But this was not the only video of Jaclyn’s that Buzzfeed copied. Another installment in The Skeptic’s Guide to Wellness featured Jaclyn exploring the world of crystal healing and lo and behold, a few weeks after the episode was released, Buzzfeed published a video that was very similar.
Jaclyn made a few videos in response to this, in which she stated that she beleived that Buzzfeed was copying her. While clearly upset, she stated the facts, and did not call for her viewers to attack the individuals featured in the Buzzfeed videos. However, the response that Buzzfeed gave was anything but professional. In fact, it was incredibly immature. In fact, they merely reposted an article from Medium titled “Dear Jaclyn: No, Buzzfeed isn’t stealing your ideas”. Interestingly enough, this article was written by Sara and Kelsey, two of the creators who had made the videos that were direct copies of Jaclyn’s. And if that wasn’t enough, Buzzfeed sent the following messages to Jaclyn, which she published on her twitter account:
In case it isn’t obvious, these messages are a blatant example of a large corporation attempting to bully a smaller content creator into silence. But that wasn’t all. One of the women, Kelsey, tweeted that she didn't know Jaclyn at all, to which Jaclyn responded to by stating that they had actually met and were Facebook friends. Kelsey responded to this by telling Jaclyn that she "wasn't memorable", a response which in my opinion, is childish, petty, and flat out rude.
As of now, there hasn't really been any followup on this case. However, it is certenly not the only case of Buzzfeed ripping off smaller content creators. Other accusations and cases of copying include:
• Remaking Caitlin Doughty's "Ask A Mortician" series in the form of one video after her channel and videos began appearing on the trending page.
• Doing a "crystal freckles" makeup look without giving any credit to the original creator of the look, beauty content creator Akilah Hughes.
• Completely ripping off and copying Seukteoma's video: "Native American Makeup Tutorial" (a parody video by a Native woman, meant to educate others on the history of Native Americans, and the many forms of oppression they have faced throughout history).
• Stealing a video from student filmmaker named Savannah's portfolio under the guise of looking though her portfolio because they were "considering hiring her as an intern".
• Buzzfeed is also guilty of screenshotting tweets and Instagram pictures for listicles, and either cutting out the original posters name, not linking to the original post, or even both.
Many other examples of theft by Buzzfeed can be found in Youtuber Akilah Obviously's video, where she documents multiple cases of her content and the content of other creators being recreated by Buzzfeed.
These cases of blatant plagiarism stretch back years, but each time a new case is brought to light, it gets attention for about a week or two, tops, before fading away. And when Buzzfeed does respond, it's often to claim that it's "false accusations" or "just a coincidence". Never once have they owned up to what they have done.
It's high time for that to stop.
From elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to college, we're taught that plagiarism is theft, and therefore not okay. I'm going to assume that Buzzfeed employees have at least a high school education, and have been told that stealing is wrong. And guess what? Having viral articles and videos, or being verified on twitter and Instagram doesn't exempt you from not stealing. And besides, what Buzzfeed is doing can most certainly be considered theft of intellectual property, which makes it illegal.
And it's time that we keep talking about it- and don't shut up- until Buzzfeed forced to acknowledge it. Creators shouldn't have to fear larger outlets taking their content and making money of their ideas and hard work. Because what's the point in working hard on something if a bigger company is just going to take it and claim it as their own?
