Facebook fan web page guidelines deal devastating blow to tribute acts and impersonators

Kelly O’Brien appears like Dolly Parton, appears like Dolly Parton, and has even been endorsed by the nation legend herself.

But she’s amongst a group of tribute acts who say Facebook guidelines are seeing their pages shut down, because the platform would not permit individuals to fake to be somebody well-known or converse for them with out permission.

O’Brien, who has been performing as Dolly for years, had 4,500 followers to her web page which was lately taken down, and says she constructed these up after a web page she had with 15,000 followers was taken down final 12 months.

She says it is devastating.

“This is my full-time job – it isn’t one thing that I do on the aspect.

“This is something I take very seriously, I work really hard, I pay a lot of money – like [Dolly Parton] says, it takes a lot of money to look this cheap!

“And then hastily, all that work you place into what you are promoting, it is simply gone, and you are like, ‘Wow, the place do I am going now?’… So, it’s extremely unhappy.”

Facebook’s father or mother firm Meta says they do permit fan pages however require customers to make it clear that they aren’t the precise superstar and will not be “speaking in the voice of” that particular person or act.

Hayleigh Bosher, a senior lecturer in mental property regulation at Brunel University, says Facebook – and different websites – are following guidelines designed to guard artists.

“From the attitude of the social media platform, they’ve to verify they’re upholding the rights of rightsholders to keep away from being sued themselves.

“So that’s the reason why they’re probably seen as quite proactive in taking down content because we have these rules in copyright that say if the platform enables the copyright infringement then they can become liable.

“But in the event that they take it down then they’re protected – in order that’s why they are going to be fairly proactive about having a system in place.”

As the worth of live performance tickets continues to rise and a few artists retire from touring altogether, discovering another model of their favorite star is absolutely the one choice for a lot of followers.

And for these whose careers depend on impersonation, not having the ability to share particulars of their reveals with their fanbase on social media is deadly.

“On your page comes: ‘We have community standards against impersonation’ and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s actually my job’!” mentioned O’Brien.

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“So, this is crazy, right? It’s just crazy that this can happen, and it’s not just happening to me, it’s happening to hundreds of tributes, impersonators, and some drag queens.

“Where else, should you love Dolly Parton, the place are you going to go? Except to see a tribute and also you need them to be pretty much as good as attainable, and particularly for artists which have handed – Whitney Houston, George Michael – these persons are retaining the music alive.”

Facebook say they’re working to reinstate O’Brien’s web page however for a lot of others the battle stays – championing tributes whereas abiding by copyright guidelines designed to guard the unique artists.