Texas, Three More College Football Twitter Accounts Suspended On National Signing Day 2018 For Alleged Copyright Violations

Twitter and other social media platforms have helped make National Signing Day a viral event in recent years, but this year some college football programs have been hit with suspensions on their accounts.

National Signing Day College Football Twitter suspensions

On Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns‘ football Twitter account was briefly suspended. The momentary shutdown shocked many, as Texas’ page was verified and had nearly 190,000 followers.

Then on Wednesday, (National Signing Day) three other universities — Georgia, Missouri and South Florida — also had their Twitter accounts suspended. Those three pages were restored early Wednesday morning.

Nevertheless, many followers remained perplexed for a brief time.

A person affiliated with Missouri’s football account explained the reason for the suspended pages: copyright violations committed by using songs in promotional videos. The employee also noted that the Tigers have ben using said songs for years but hadn’t been reprimanded for this until now.

There is an act called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that dictates online accounts are automatically suspended after three violations within a certain period.

Some of Missouri’s and USF’s tweets prompted takedowns as a result of filings by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Twitter also filed several notices.

BERKELEY, CA – SEPTEMBER 17: Defensive tackle Paul Boyette Jr. #93 and defensive tackle Poona Ford #95 of the Texas Longhorns celebrate stopping the California Golden Bears on fourth and one in the first quarter on September 17, 2016 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California. Cal won 50-43. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)