Another day, another new Threads feature. The Meta app will soon have a feature that will allow users to re-share photos and videos on their feed with a link to the original post, but without the original post attached.
When this feature becomes available, users will need to long-press on a photo or video from their feed and select “use media.” After that, they will be able to create a new post with the clip image attached, and the watermark from the original poster will appear in the upper left corner. “It’s a quick and easy way to add your own creative touch to trending images and clips without being cited,” wrote Adam Mosseri, head of Threads.
The feature is likely intended to make it easier for users to share the work of other users with attribution. Mosseri has received a number of complaints about Threads from frustrated users who see their work stolen without attribution. In a post last month, Mosseri said that Meta is “trying to shift more distribution from aggregators to authors on both Instagram and Threads,” although he acknowledged that this can be “very difficult to do” when the original post has been taken down from a non-Meta platform. On Instagram, the company recently tweaked its algorithm in an effort to favor authors over aggregators.
However, judging by some of the reactions to the latest Threads update, some creators are still unhappy with Meta’s approach. “It seems like outright content theft,” said one photographer. “Quoting a post is a much more effective way to share someone’s content with your own comments, while still crediting the author,” said another user.
In a separate post, Meta noted that individual authors can turn off media reuse in their app settings, so it’s possible to block your posts from being shared in this way (there are also settings that prevent others from quoting posts in full). However, for those who fear that accounts may simply hijack their posts in the interest of “farming,” there is still little that users can do to prevent less scrupulous accounts from copying their content through screenshots or otherwise.
