Social media has made it easier for artists to share their work with the world. But it also comes with risks, especially when it comes to copyright law. Below we explore copyright laws and social media, including who owns shared content, what can be done with it, how artists can protect their work and the challenges faced by artists in an increasingly digital world.
Written by Grant Longstaff. Published 28 August 2026.
In simple terms, UK copyright law means an artist owns their work. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property rights including patents, designs, trademarks and copyright, states: “In the case of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, the author or creator of the work is usually the first owner of any copyright in it.”
There are of course exceptions to this. For example, there could be joint owners (common in film and broadcasting), shared ownership between more than one creator if they collaborated and an employer might own the copyright if the piece was created by an employee.
Artists sharing their work on social media doesn’t mean they’ve given up ownership, but it can have an impact on who can use it. Just like other areas of the law, copyright law is nuanced and can have a lasting impact on an artist.
Who owns the art shared on social media?
There are advantages to artists sharing their work on social media and, ultimately, they retain copyright. However, the terms and conditions of social media platforms will likely include clauses around how they can use content uploaded by their users.
For example, Instagram’s Terms of Use states: “We do not claim ownership of your content, but you grant us a licence to use it.” It goes on to explain that, by posting on the platform “you hereby grant to [Instagram] a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide licence to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate and create derivative works of your content”.
All of this is to say that whilst Instagram doesn’t own an artist’s work, it could potentially use it in a number of ways. Similar terms can be found at Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube and will likely exist at other social media platforms.
What do the phrases in social media terms and conditions mean?
The following are commonly found in social media terms of use:
- Non-exclusive: This means the platform can use your posts and content, but the licence is not exclusive, so you can generally continue to use your work yourself and grant rights to others.
- Royalty-free: This means the licence does not require the platform to pay royalties for the permitted uses.
- Sublicensable: This means the platform may be able to grant some, or all, of the rights it has received to another party.
- Modification: This means content can be modified, adapted, edited and changed by the platform. This may allow a platform to make modifications to your uploaded content.
Though not commonly found on social media platforms, the two terms below are important to be aware of as a creator.
- Perpetual: A perpetual licence is intended to continue indefinitely, rather than expire after a particular period. A perpetual licence means a service or company could use your content even after you’ve deleted it.
- Irrevocable: An irrevocable licence generally cannot simply be withdrawn by the person who granted it.
How each platform could use your work should be clear in the terms they provide at the point you sign up.
Concerns for artists sharing their work online
Designs stolen by fashion brands
It isn’t just how social media channels could potentially use art that creators need to be aware of. In recent years there have been several cases where fashion brands have used an artist’s design without the permission of the artist.
One of the biggest perpetrators appears to be Shein, who have faced a number of allegations of using artists’ and designers’ work without their consent. Artist Vanessa Bowman, spoke of the difficulty artists face in challenging a multibillion-pound organisation stealing work, describing it as a “David and Goliath” situation. Other artists have fought for Shein to remove designs used without consent, only for the clothing brand to do it again months later. In 2023 Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez and Jay Baron sued Shein for copying their work with the artists alleging “copyright infringement is a key component of Shein’s business model, allowing Shein to profit enormously from the work of emerging artists without paying them”.
Social media content used to train generative AI
There are also concerns that posts on social media are being used to train AI. For example, in 2024 Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, updated their privacy policy to state that they may use “Content that you create, such as posts, comments or audio” to “develop and improve their artificial intelligence technology”. Users in the UK and Europe can opt out, but criticism was aimed at the process, which requires users to explain how Meta’s use of their data to train AI would impact them.
Choosing to share your art online is a personal choice. The opportunity to share work and potentially grow a larger audience for it can be enough of an incentive for artists. However, it doesn’t come without risks and it’s important to understand how social media platforms could potentially use the work you share so you can make an informed decision and protect your art and intellectual property.
If you’re interested in copyright and privacy, then our LLM in Data Protection and Intellectual Property could be a perfect place to launch your career.
