Meta copyright loophole fuels extortion racket targeting digital creators
For digital content creators, a social media account is not just an online profile; it is a business asset and a source of livelihood. However, a loophole in Meta's copyright infringement policy is enabling bad-faith actors to threaten account suspensions and hold creators to ransom, according to several prominent digital content creators who have approached the Delhi High Court in recent weeks.
The pleadings describe a harrowing pattern: many creators have lost access to millions of followers overnight after their accounts were suspended following multiple copyright strikes. Pushkar Raj Thakur, a financial educator with 2.8 million Instagram followers and over 15 million YouTube subscribers, was among the first to move the court. His plaint states that cybercriminals targeted 36 of his original videos with fraudulent copyright strikes.
Neeraj Joshi, a financial educator with a combined social media following of 7.5 million subscribers, saw his verified Instagram account with 3.68 lakh followers permanently deactivated on April 21, 2026, after a barrage of automated copyright strikes against his original videos. Mohammed Nawaz Shaikh, an AI educator with 1.6 million Instagram followers, was hit with 36 copyright strikes across April and May 2026, leading to his account suspension in June.
The issue extends beyond individual grievances. Nitin Joshi, a business and markets content creator with 1.6 million followers on Instagram, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) after noticing systemic abuse. He published a video about the scam, but it was blocked the next morning due to the same fraudulent copyright mechanism. His PIL compiles data from 40 creators, revealing a widespread extortion racket. His own account had been suspended due to fraudulent copyright complaints.
According to the pleadings, the scammers exploit a specific vulnerability in Facebook's desktop version to manipulate timestamps. First, they upload arbitrary or unrelated material on Facebook pages with little engagement or followers. When a legitimate creator uploads a new, original reel on Instagram, the scammers immediately download it. Then they use the 'Edit Post' functionality on their older Facebook posts to replace the original media with the creator's newly uploaded video. The altered post continues to reflect the old publication date, creating the appearance of prior publication and ownership.
Using this backdated post, the scammers invoke Meta's 'Rights Manager', a copyright enforcement tool designed to protect intellectual property. The automated system, tricked by the older timestamp, assumes the scammer is the original creator and issues a copyright strike against the actual author's Instagram account. Meta's policy dictates that an accumulation of such strikes leads to automatic account suspension.
The automated strikes are followed by attempts at extortion, the pleadings allege. In Neeraj Joshi's case, a scammer allegedly messaged him: 'I have removed and blocked many of your videos. If you give me money, I will restore all the videos.' Shaikh's plaint alleges that someone using the alias 'Target lock'—who had filed three copyright strikes against him—messaged him: 'If you want the strikes removed, contact us as soon as possible.' Faced with the permanent deletion of his account, Shaikh paid this person Rs 55,000 across multiple UPI accounts.
