Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 9
Days after the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nagaland rolled out their campaign videos for the ongoing State Assembly Elections 2023 on social media platforms, the two political parties drew flak from several individuals who have come out against the use of their personal footages without permission and misconstruing it to promote their political agendas.
The controversy throws light on the issue over copyright infringement and questions over fair use of content by individuals or groups in the State which have become relevant since the popularity of video making and content creation on social media.
Speaking with one of the original owners of the footages used in question, Yanger Longkumer (Yngr vlogs) stated that he first saw the campaign video on Instagram on February 8. “It was very disappointing to know that they had used several of my footages without permission to promote their own election campaign,” he said.
Several clips of the footages used containing individuals dressed in traditional attires were originally taken by Longkumer during the Tsungremong festival and had been uploaded to his YouTube channel. “There were about five scenes which were taken from my video,” he added. This also included drone footage of scenic hills taken in Mokokchung.
“I have no problem with them using my footages but I am mad because they didn’t inform me beforehand or asked for my permission,” he commented. As a content creator, numerous time and effort goes into capturing the desired shots and editing them in the process, he said. He also noted that there were other individuals whose footages were used in the campaign video besides him.
For Pelevizo Meyase, a videographer and film maker by profession, he informed that his footages were used in a promotional video by BJP Nagaland on their Instagram page. “I’m not against any political party but this is a lie...some of the videos shown here are mine and it is nothing related to BJP Nagaland Development. They used my video without permission. Never took a penny from them,” he had reacted on his Instagram account. He stated that the footages used were from two videos of the political party and were intended for his clients.
It is not the first time that this had occurred to Meyase as there were several other instances where government departments had used his photographs without permission. “For me this is not the first time the government used my photographs without my permission and credit....some other departments too have done it in the past,” he alleged.
“This is not the first time. It is not just the political parties but a lot of other individuals who would use clips from our hard work and put it up on the internet without our consent or even acknowledgement,” Sanen Kichu, cinematographer and owner of San Production remarked on the issue.
Campaign songs & ads need pre-certification: ECI
As the controversy over the campaign songs raged, the ECI on February 9 issued a notice stating that campaign songs of political parties would need pre-certification.
Chairman of the Pre-certification Committee & Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Ruokuovituo Khezhie through the Media Cell of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) put out a statement requesting those political parties who had uploaded their advertisement e.g. theme songs, campaigns songs etc., without pre-certification to immediately remove the contents from the platform and submit to the committee for certification.
“It was stated that some political parties were uploading advertisement in the electronic media without obtaining prior certification which is against the Supreme Court order dated April 13, 2004 and standing instructions of Election Commission,” it read. Therefore, any kind of advertisement in electronic media requires pre-certification from the committee before publication, it added.
