Twitter Suspends Account For Posting NBA Highlights After The NBA Apparently Sent Several Copyright Takedown Requests

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The NBA has always been the darling of social media for allowing the liberal use of highlight clips on Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram but with failing ratings this season it appears that could be coming to an end.

Last week, NBA highlights account TheRenderNBA had his Twitter account suspended after being reported for violating copyright by the NBA.

We obtained a copy of the DMCA request made against TheRenderNBA’s twitter account and the videos in question appear to be fairly innocuous highlights from the Mavericks-Rockets game on November 24th.

News of TheRenderNBA’s account getting suspended comes as many NBA highlight creators began receiving an onslaught of copyright violations on Youtube.

Back in 2018, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was lauded for his forward-thinking approach when it comes to how the league handles social media highlights compared to the NFL and MLB who have both taken a hardline approach in protecting their copyright.

(Adam Silver Via Strategy-Business.com)

“We promote the posting of our highlights. The highlights are identified through YouTube’s software, and when ads are sold against them, we share in the revenue. We analogize our strategy to snacks versus meals. If we provide those snacks to our fans on a free basis, they’re still going to want to eat meals — which are our games. There is no substitute for the live game experience. We believe that greater fan engagement through social media helps drive television ratings,”

As someone who posts NBA highlights on a near-daily basis, it would be a pretty big bummer if the league did indeed shift their stance on how they handle social media highlights on Twitter.

(We have reached out to the NBA for comment on the matter and will update this post if they respond.

Jorge Alonso BroBible avatar
Brobible sports editor. Jorge is a Miami native and lifelong Heat fan. He has been covering the NBA, MLB and NFL professionally for almost 10 years, specializing in digital media.