Twitter nixes Trump Nickelback meme after dubious takedown request

Enlarge / Look at this exercise of copyright's fair use doctrine. (credit: Warner Music Group / Unknown associate of Devon Archer)

Twitter has removed a video from a tweet by Donald Trump in response to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown request from Warner Music Group. The video modified a short clip from the Nickelback music video "Photograph" to criticize former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden is seeking the Democratic nod to challenge Trump in the 2020 election.

Cornell University legal scholar James Grimmelmann told Ars that Donald Trump has a strong fair use claim. The video only used a few seconds of the Nickelback music video, and it does so in a way that poses no threat to sales of the original song-two factors that typically point toward a finding of fair use.

The music video for "Photograph" begins with a shot of Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger holding up a framed photograph as he sings, "Look at this photograph. Every time I do, it makes me laugh." People started to modify the video clip and put other photos in the frame. An official meme was born.

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