Yahoo Finance ‘Bizarre’: McDonalds creates fake tweet using man’s personal info
Shane Bazzi has been tweeting McDonalds to introduce a veggie burger for some time now, but he never expected the fast-food chain to use his personal information in an ad campaign for the veggie burger when they brought it out.
In fact, he never expected the burger chain to make up a completely new tweet, place his name and photo in the tweet, and post it on their Instagram story.
“I found it quite cringey and weird to be honest. I was disappointed to have my words twisted and used..." he told Buzzfeed News.
"For them to make money from my name, image and Twitter account."
this is bizarre. I’ve just discovered @maccas is using my name and photo to advertise their new veggie burger on their Instagram however I never tweeted that. They just made it up! 🧐🍔🌱 pic.twitter.com/h66EPemYIk
— Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) January 31, 2020
In a Twitter post, Bazzi wrote it was “bizarre”.
“I’ve just discovered @maccas is using my name and photo to advertise their new veggie burger on their Instagram however I never tweeted that. They just made it up!"
McDonalds told Buzzfeed the fake ads were “inspired” by real posts.
And McDonalds isn’t the only perpetrator
Earlier this year, David Green found his own driver’s licence as an example on an Optus website - something that was uploaded without his consent.
Hey @Optus, I just learned you are using an image of my driver’s licence as an example on your website without asking me. Can I have some money please? pic.twitter.com/gHJqYjI4qf
— David M. Green 🧢 (@David_M_Green) January 17, 2020
“People are fed up with terrible service and especially because they’re supposed to be keeping our private information secure, and when something like this happens it makes everyone very angry,” Green told Yahoo News Australia.
“It’s a breach of privacy, even though the photo was already on my website, they’ve taken it and put it on their website to a larger audience - they’re a big company,” the 32-year-old comedian said.
Do you have a right to your Twitter information?
According to Twitter’s copyright policy, you do have a claim to your profile image.
Twitter states it will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, “such as allegations concerning the unauthorised use of a copyrighted image as a profile or header photo”.
A fake post which uses the name or likeness of a real person without their permission might violate the personality rights of the person imitated - but not necessarily.
If you’re concerned about your rights online, you can contact the Australian Copyright Council.
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