And what rights do you hold to the image?
Want to quickly update your profile picture with a comic hero you found in the image search on Google? Be careful – anyone who violates copyrights can be penalized expensively! Admittedly, in the rarest of cases something actually happens, but you still have to be aware that you have violated copyright law.
One simple rule to remember is: If you didn't take a graphic, a photo or an image yourself, then you don't necessarily have the right to use it or even republish it! This image does not have to be explicitly marked with a © or something similar, but that is the case automatically.
So if you include a publicly visible image to which you have no rights as a public profile picture (regardless of whether it is on WhatsApp or Facebook), then you have committed a copyright violation. Whether or how severely this will be punished depends on the individual case.
Review: 2014
There have always been more or less strong waves in which users on Facebook temporarily replaced their profile pictures with comic heroes. However, one thing to remember: cartoon characters are protected by copyright and may not be published on the Internet the permission of the author In 2014, there was a very similar challenge asking people to use Disney characters as their profile picture.
Although there was no wave of warnings, Disney's social media team responded quite clearly that there was no approval for the use of the images for such purposes.
By the way, copyright is one of the least respected rights on the Internet. There can be several reasons why this is the case. Over the years, a certain mentality has crept in to believe that everything that can be found on the Internet must be free and freely usable.
At the same time or even intensifying the effect, there is a lack of understanding of copyright, usage rights, reproduction rights/exploitation rights, or there is a lot of confusion. What an explanation of the topic “in simple terms” can look like is shown in this video:
(Video: Vanessa Valeyla Today, YouTube Valeila Sol)
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )



