Diddy Was Called Out for Using a Photographer's Image on His Instagram Without Permission

Diddy recently posted a photo of an eclipse to his Instagram without giving the photographer credit and the Internet called him out for it.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

The Internet continues to be a double-edged sword for professional photographers, and our beloved celebrities are partially to blame.

Diddy recently posted a photo on his Instagram of an eclipse over Los Angeles with the hashtag #diddyview. Not long after the photo was shared, someone commented that it actually belonged to LA-based photographer Cole Younger, who had posted the full version of the photo on his own account two weeks prior.

1.

Both Diddy and Younger's posts have been flooded with comments about how the mogul should give the photographer credit. So far, Diddy's post has over 47,000 likes and Younger's only has 5,000, which points to a larger issue with the way art is shared online and the consequences for the artists.

Diddy is not the first celebrity to be caught using someone else's work online. Sarah Palin was sued for a photo that was posted to her Facebook page on Sept. 11, 2013 that showed firefighters raising a flag at Ground Zero. Kim Kardashian was caught using a Google image of Thailand instead of taking her own. The list goes on. For every time someone is caught infringing on the copyrights of others, there are probably dozens of posts that go unchecked, and it's not just celebrities who are at fault.

Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media sites are full of "stolen" images that artists and photographers never see a dime for. On the other hand, many creatives have benefited greatly from their work being shared online, largely because of loyal fans like the ones who have been commenting on Diddy's post.

[via PetaPixel]

Latest in Style