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Recently, a true crime documentary used photos of a suspect retrieved from online platforms such as Tinder and Instagram. Watching the movie, we were surprised how the movie was free to use some people's photos retrieved online, in an accusative context, presumably without their written consent. How come a documentary can publish a person's such images without a copyright infringement?

Is it true that when publishing a criticism of an artpiece(movie or music), you can use part of it in the publication; so, does it mean that if you are publishing a written/videoed criticism on someone, you can use that person's photo hosted on a web page or Instagram? I think this shouldn't be the case legally.

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Unless the photo is a selfie, the subject doesn’t own it

Copyright in a photograph belongs to the photographer; in most cases, apart from a piece of their thumb over the lens, they aren’t in their own photos.

By uploading the photo, the user granted the platform a licence, here is Instagram’s:

When you share, post or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (such as photos or videos) on or in connection with our Service, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide licence to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).

Assuming the user was the photographer, they have the right to grant this licence. The filmmakers can use this licensed material.

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  • Licensing it to Instagram is not licensing it to the filmmakers.
    – Gerard Ashton
    Commented Sep 18, 2022 at 22:29
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    @GeraldAshton Yes, but Instagram could then resell the license to the film makers.
    – nick012000
    Commented Sep 19, 2022 at 2:20
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    The licwncw us " sub-licensable" wwhich meNS THAT Insagferam may, and as i understand it routinely does, permit others to use the content lawfully.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Sep 19, 2022 at 5:14
  • How about Tinder ? They used his photos that include his selfies in the documentary, in a derogatory way, accusing him with testimonials without a court rule for these charges that proves the offense.
    – b.g.
    Commented Sep 19, 2022 at 10:10
  • @b.g. The copyright owner (him) granted Tinder a licence.
    – Dale M ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2022 at 10:25

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