Premier League warns fans over posting goal GIFs and vines online

Premier League and Twitter working together to clamp down on Goal Vines and GIFs

The new Premier League season begins later today and it’ll be understandable that if you’re watching one match, you’ll miss a goal or a controversial incident from a simultaneous match.

One would normally just go online and expect it to be up there within minutes of the incident. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find what you are looking for this time around. The Premier League has warned fans not to share Vines and GIFs of incidents from matches online as it is a breach of their copyright laws.

Sharing is a Breach of Copyright: Premier League

In an interview to the BBC, director of communications at the Premier League, Dan Johnson said: "You can understand that fans see something, they can capture it, they can share it, but ultimately it is against the law."

"It's a breach of copyright and we would discourage fans from doing it, we're developing technologies like gif crawlers, Vine crawlers, working with Twitter to look to curtail this kind of activity."

Johnson added: "I know it sounds as if we're killjoys, but we have to protect our intellectual property."

It means that if anyone shares a vine or a gif on Twitter which has unofficial footage from top flight football, the new technology will be able to detect it, remove it before further action is taken.

A spokesman for the Premier League said: "The use of Vines and GIFs to show Premier League football is a breach of copyright, and we would encourage fans to use legitimate means to access this content, such as The Sun or The Times goal apps.

"We are working with social media providers to take down pirated clips and hope fans understand the need to maintain the investment model that produces the football they love."

Pressure from official rights holders

This is due to pressure from Sky Sports and BT Sport paid a record who have paid £3 billion pounds to air live Premier League football for the next 3 seasons as well as online rights holders The Sun and The Times. It typically costs around £8 a month to subscribe to Sun+ which shows Premier League goals.

People can watch content unrestricted and for free without subscribing to these services through Vines and GIFs.

Twitter’s official policy regarding this says says: "Vine users may not post content that violates the rights of a third party."

Vines were a hit during the FIFA World Cup with fans all over the world sharing goals, controversial incidents and misses all over social media.