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In 2025, Facebook has further refined its Rights Manager technology to help content creators safeguard their intellectual property-especially ensuring that your images are protected in today’s fast‐evolving digital landscape.
In this updated article for 2025, we’ll walk you through the current rules and explain how Facebook’s latest changes will affect the owners and publishers of posted images.
Do I Currently Have Ownership Over Images I Post On Facebook or Instagram?
Yes, you do.
If you are the creator of content such as images, or if you’re the owner of a trade mark, your work remains protected under the standard intellectual property rights applicable in Australia and beyond. We recommend regularly reviewing your rights-and our guide on how to protect your intellectual property provides further insights into bolstering your creative assets.
According to Facebook’s updated terms and conditions, when you upload content, you grant Facebook a licence to use it in accordance with your selected privacy settings.
Essentially, Facebook is entitled to a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide licence to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content.” However, rest assured that you remain free to enter into separate licensing arrangements with other parties.
This means that while Facebook can utilise your images at no cost-and even transfer or sub-license your content-you retain full ownership and can license your images elsewhere as you see fit.
Can I Publish Content On Facebook That Doesn’t Belong To Me?
In 2025, Facebook reinforces that copyright responsibility lies squarely with the uploader; therefore, the images you share must either be your own creations or ones for which you have obtained the necessary permissions.
Facebook continues to monitor and remove content that infringes the intellectual property rights of third parties. For instance, if a photo is uploaded without securing permission from its rightful owner, it may promptly be taken down upon complaint.
Uploading content without the creator’s explicit consent can expose you to legal risks and potential breaches of intellectual property rights-even if you are simply sharing another user’s post.
What Changes Is Facebook Making?
Facebook is set to provide select verified partners with enhanced control over the distribution of their images. Under the updated Rights Manager, content owners can now instruct Facebook to take down their images or impose territorial blocks, ensuring your visual content is displayed only where you hold the appropriate rights.
This enhanced system utilises advanced upload filtering powered by AI. As a content owner, you can submit a CSV file containing your image metadata and designate the relevant copyright jurisdictions. Facebook processes this information in real time to monitor and restrict unauthorised use, providing a more robust protection mechanism in 2025.
Of course, challenges remain-such as scenarios where multiple parties assert ownership of the same image. It will be crucial to observe how Facebook resolves such disputes as the digital copyright landscape continues to evolve.
Looking ahead, it is anticipated that these enhanced copyright protection measures may eventually extend to all Facebook and Instagram users. For now, however, they are being initially rolled out to select partners, with broader availability expected as the year progresses.
Why Are These Changes Being Made?
These updates align with the enforcement of newly revised copyright directives in the EU, which are now actively shaping regulations in 2025. Major online platforms-including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Google-are required to proactively block content that infringes on copyright, thereby necessitating enhanced rights management capabilities.
The new provisions ensure that platforms can be held liable for hosting infringing content-a critical consideration given their global reach. With the capacity to enforce territorial blocks, these companies can comply more effectively with varying national copyright laws, reducing their legal exposure.
Currently, the new EU directives primarily impact large commercial platforms, while small businesses earning under €10 million annually or operating for fewer than three years remain exempt. In Australia, recent amendments to the Copyright Act in 2025 provide similar relief for small enterprises, recognising their unique operational challenges.
Moreover, the updated regulations still permit the upload of others’ images when used under fair dealing exceptions-such as for parodies, criticism, cartoons, reviews, or academic citation. This means that creative expressions like memes continue to be acceptable, provided they adhere to these guidelines.
How Will Facebook’s Changes Affect You?
If you run a business that relies on visual content, safeguarding your images from unauthorised use is paramount. In 2025, Facebook’s enhanced Rights Manager allows you to upload your images and receive alerts if they appear elsewhere without your permission. This functionality is especially valuable for photographers and other creatives. For additional guidance on managing your intellectual property, check out our intellectual property protection guide.
Remember that responsibility lies with the uploader: you must ensure that the images you share are either your own or have been authorised for use. Failing to secure the proper permissions can result in breaches of intellectual property rights, placing you at risk of legal action.
As a general rule, whether you’re an individual or a business, always verify that you have the content owner’s permission before publishing images online.
If you manage an online marketplace or website that allows user-generated content, these changes serve as a timely reminder to review your image handling policies. Ensuring that you have robust marketplace terms and conditions in place is critical for mitigating liability and ensuring compliance with evolving copyright laws.
In such scenarios, having watertight terms and conditions is essential. These should clearly state that users are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions for any images they upload. Failure to establish these legal safeguards could expose your business to significant liability. For more detailed advice, see our article on setting out strong business terms and conditions.
In our experience, disputes often arise in online marketplaces when professional photographers or businesses discover their images have been used without consent-sometimes without the marketplace owner even realising it. Implementing comprehensive T&Cs from the outset can save you from these costly headaches.
The Takeaway
Just as Facebook relies on robust terms and conditions to protect its intellectual property, your business should also adopt strong legal safeguards on its website to secure your creative assets.
Accidental infringement of intellectual property is an ever-present risk in the digital age. By ensuring that your website’s legal documents clearly outline your content usage rights, you can protect your business from unexpected legal challenges.
For a free chat about what terms and conditions would best suit your business, give us a call on 1800 730 617 or email us at team@sprintlaw.com.au. You can also learn more about our offerings by visiting our contact page.
Looking towards the future in 2025, maintaining a robust legal stance on intellectual property is more crucial than ever as digital content sharing continues to surge. With platforms increasingly utilising AI-driven solutions to monitor and enforce copyright, businesses that proactively update their legal strategies can avoid costly disputes. For further reading on protecting your creative rights, explore our resources on trade mark versus copyright and marketplace terms and conditions.
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