For many, the ‘snapchat you wish you’d never sent’ has been the source of some pretty embarrassing – if not worse – scenarios.
However that could all be about to change as it turns out screenshotting Snapchat posts could land you on the wrong end of an expensive lawsuit, reports The Independent.
Ed Vaizey – minister of state for culture, said anyone who screenshotted a Snapchat message and shared it with others could be sued by its original sender and even face a prison sentence.
He said:
Under UK copyright law, it would be unlawful for a Snapchat user to copy an image and make it available to the public without the consent of the image owner.
The image owner would be able to sue anyone who does this for copyright infringement.
Snapchat does encourage users not to send posts they would not want to be saved or shared as well as officially notifying senders if the recipient takes a screenshot.
Mr Vaizey said:
The Snapchat privacy policy states that if Snapchat is able to detect that a recipient has taken a screenshot of an image, they will try to inform the original poster.
However, there are apps and hacks that allow users to bypass the system and take screenshots without the sender knowing.
The minister confirmed that as well as breaching copyright, anyone who passed on images of a particularly sexual nature without consent could face a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
You’ve been warned people…
