FACT welcomes Facebook streaming device ban
May 25, 2017
By Colin Mann
UK intellectual property protection organisation FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) has welcomed the recent move by Facebook to update its Commerce Policy to ban the sale of illicit streaming devices from its site.
According to the site,items, products or services sold on Facebook must comply with its Community Standards, as well as the Commerce Policies, with ‘Products or items that facilitate or encourage unauthorised access to digital media’ listed among 13 categories.
“It is great to see Facebook follow the likes of Amazon and eBay in making changes to their policies to prohibit the sale of illicit streaming devices on their platforms,” declared Kieron Sharp, Chief Executive of FACT.
“These days social media sites are more than just a place to share photos and comments with friends and family. Unfortunately, the fast-paced development of these sites is being exploited by opportunists for criminal activity which needs to be disrupted. One of FACT’s priorities is combatting the sale of these illegal devices, which affects not only all of our members and clients but the creative industries as a whole.”
“Recent rulings have clarified that selling a device pre-configured to access copyrighted material is illegal and that consumers watching content via these devices without a legitimate subscription are also breaking the law,” he advised.