In a post made on Facebook, Filipino content creator Lyqa Maravilla is highlighting the difference between the skills of a true content creator, versus that of a supposed “content creator” who only manages to ‘steal’ the original works of others.

Maravilla alluded to how many self-proclaimed content creators right now are merely doing screengrabs/screen recording, and then uploading them as their own and getting mad if they get caught, even calling the original creators greedy.

“Huwag ganiyan, bhie. Bad ‘yan [Not like that, babe. That’s bad],” she added. 

Social media users then took to the comments to express their thoughts about her post. 

One user wrote, “Mga magnanakaw ng content na wala talagang kaunting talent at skill….pero ang malupit sila din yung galit sa corruption. Talo pa nila ang politicians. Yung mga magnanakaw sa internet ay nakabalandra ang mukha. Proud pa sila [Content thieves who have absolutely no talent or skill….but they are also cruel and hate corruption. They even beat politicians. The internet thieves have their faces exposed. They are even proud].”

Another user wrote, “Mismo. Kaso ang nakaka lungkot yung mismong platform yung nag aallow nito so lagay nalang ng watermark [Exactly. What’s sad is that the platform itself allows this, so just put a watermark].”

A third user even added a suggestion with the possible punishment for those who are plagiarizing content and wrote, “Mas madali kasing magnakaw ng content ng iba kesa gumawa ng orig. Salute sa mga OG at legit na content creators! A much better proposal: Payagan silang nakawin ang OG content, pero iremit nila yung kanilang 90% earnings sa orig na content owner mismo. Pag hindi pumayag, report agad sa PNP-ACG [It’s easier to steal other people’s content than to create original content. Salute to the OG and legit content creators! A much better proposal: Allow them to steal OG content, but they will remit their 90% earnings to the original content owner himself. If they don’t agree, report immediately to the PNP-ACG]. Game?”

In relation to her post, Maravilla has uploaded a video about copyright in her YouTube channel–a much needed resource material given that a lot of people who are doing content creation are still not aware of this.

Content theft has become increasingly normalized on many social media platforms, where users often repost or repurpose others’ work without credit or permission. This widespread issue is fueled by the fact that creators who steal content rarely face meaningful consequences, and algorithms often tend to reward engagement and virality over originality, allowing stolen content to gain traction and sometimes even outperform the original.

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