Instagram account could be blocked
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A man walks into a Beverly Hills police station and streams his visit live on Instagram. When a police officer notices this, he starts playing music on his smartphone. In extreme cases, the official’s DJ performance could lead to the man’s Instagram account being blocked – apparently this was exactly the policeman’s goal. But the tactic backfired.
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Police officers may be filmed on duty
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Sennett Devermore is a well-known activist. He developed the “Mr. Checkpoint” app, which is intended to help users film police officers in all situations in order to be able to prove wrongdoing by the cops in case of doubt – a procedure that is officially permitted in America. On his Instagram account of the same name, he regularly publishes corresponding videos for his more than 300,000 followers, using the hashtag #AFTP – “Always film the police”.
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Even when Devermore enters a police station in Beverly Hills, he streams the visit live. According to his own statements, he had recently been reported unjustifiably and wants a form from the police officer on duty Billy Fair at the station. His goal: to get material from an officer’s surveillance camera. An actually harmless process. Fair brings him the document first, but is annoyed that Devermore is streaming the events live on Instagram. He asks how many people are watching, to which Devermore replies, “Enough.” The policeman then stops answering questions, takes out his cell phone, swipes it, and plays music by the ska-punk band “Sublime”.
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Fair increases the volume and keeps staring at his cell phone. He is silent for almost a full minute while Sublime’s “Santeria” roars from the loudspeaker. “Sir, you turn on music when I talk to you, can you stop? It’s so ridiculous,” Devermore is heard to say. The activist realizes what Fair is up to.
Instagram has strict guidelines for posting copyrighted material, which includes commercial music. The picture service has its own copyright algorithm for this, which recognizes the music and either stops the live stream immediately or mutes it. Even if this does not happen, corresponding videos from the highlights can be reported later. Any video that contains music, even if it’s playing in the background, can be removed from Instagram. In the event of repeated violations, the account can even be blocked.
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Even if the algorithm doesn’t recognize the song immediately, users can simply wait for a user to post a video of the live stream on their site and then submit a copyright complaint to Instagram. In May 2020, however, the picture service updated its copyright policy and recommends shorter music clips and a visual component. “Recorded audio shouldn’t be the primary purpose of the video,” the terms state. The more protected songs that are played, the more likely it is that the video will be blocked.
Fair doesn’t seem to know about this update. Even when Devermore later recognizes him on the street and speaks up about his behavior, he turns on the music again. Devermore backs away and again asks him to turn off the music. “I can’t understand you,” says Fair. “Listen to the music.” According to “Vice.com” this procedure is known and has already been observed several times. The Beverly Hills Police Department responded to the platform’s request that playing music when making a complaint or answering questions was not management-ordered behavior and would be examined.
Meanwhile, Sublime reacted too – but probably differently than Fair had requested. The band posted a screenshot of Fair on Instagram that said, “Is this cop playing Sublimes Santeria to prevent a live stream?” The band wrote as a description: “Caught!”
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