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Digital photo provider draws backlash after claiming rights to first black hole photo
Visual China angers content creators for shady copyright practices
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
China’s biggest stock picture provider has vanished, and it’s all because of the first photograph taken of a black hole.
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The country erupted in collective outrage after people discovered that Visual China, a website similar to Shutterstock or Getty Images, claimed to have the copyright for the black hole photo in China and asked people to pay to use it. That picture was originally released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) for free distribution as long as users credit Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT).
The swift reaction in China happened in part because of the changing landscape of media creation in the country. While established companies are some of the biggest customers for stock photo sites in other parts of the world, individuals within China are increasingly relying on sites like Visual China.
More than 3 million people in China are now working as “self media,” a term for amateur media organizations and individual writers who publish primarily on social networks like WeChat, Weibo and Bytedance’s content aggregator Toutiao.
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Many content creators complain that Visual China often aggressively demands compensation for pictures found in the public domain. It was reported last year that the site, which makes up 50% of China’s market for commercial stock photos, has a habit of demanding high prices for any images it claims as its own.
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“If you haven’t received a lawyer’s letter from Visual China, it means you’re not big enough,” a popular blogger on WeChat wrote sarcastically.
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