Where do we draw the line between imitation as a form of flattery, and imitation as a form of stealing?
Part I - Instagram
I’ve been away from Tumblr for a heck of time but only one crazy discovery got me back ranting in here. The reason? Someone stealing my content. There is no problem taking bits of inspiration from everywhere but this one’s a whole new level of pro. Let’s start from the very beginning and I’ll leave the judgement to you.
PS. I’m censoring some details out of pity for this person.
It’s funny how Instagram would sometimes lead you to the most unexpected suggested people. I stumbled upon a suspicious suggested account (I use the word suspicious because I was instantly drawn to how familiar it looks), and behold, it’s very much patterned to my IG poetry page and I knew for sure it belongs to this person.
I’ve been writing since 2006. I usually kept a handwritten journal for everything but you really don’t get the time for it anymore as an adult. So my iPhone Notes became my go-to until all my thoughts were consuming too much of my phone memory already. I started transferring some of my writing on Tumblr during 2018, and around June 2022 I decided to put up an Instagram account for some selected content. Creating each layout for @poetrybymarii had also became a much-needed break from my day job as well.
Upon discovering this suggested account and distinguishing the theme that had been copied from me, I immediately scrolled back to its earliest post to determine how old the account was—the account was created August 2022, exactly two months after I’ve created @poetrybymarii. I messaged this person to confirm if the account belongs to her (which, even if she denied was obviously hers). In the beginning she admitted ownership, not knowing what’s next to come.
You see, I was already aware how this person was stealing bits of captions and whatnots. I was ready to let it slip away again until one of her posts truly alarmed me—it was one of the proses I wrote and posted here on my Tumblr dated September 10, 2018. It was copied and minorly tweaked! You can see how the whole context, sentence per sentence are still the same. Words were just jumbled or replaced with synonyms but the whole chronological order of it all remains.
I confronted her again and this was the start of her denying it all. Let’s debunk her alibi here:
Alibi: “It was not mine, I just saw it somewhere and copied it because I found it nice. Someone must have reposted and that’s where I found it. But I did not copied it from you.”
Point 1 — The moment she confirmed the poetry account was hers, she was clear about how it was just an outlet account for her thoughts. Meaning she claims ownership for all the content written and posted. Not one post had a proper credit in it. Also judging the awkward English composition and grammar, it was a no-brainer that the write-up there was all her work.
Point 2 — My original prose was posted on my Tumblr account with a very few following. It did not receive any notes (likes and re-shares) so the chances of it going viral being passed around to make it into her screen apart from my very page was impossible.
Point 3 — My prose needed to become viral first to close the possibility of someone firstly related to me have it find somewhere. But had it been viral, I would have still known. Social Media is part of my job. There is no tricking me in this one.
Part II – Tumblr
The entirety of my conversation with this person was pointless as she tries to divert away from the very point of her stealing my prose. Overwhelmingly, she was ready with all her alibies and screenshots, and suddenly admitted that not all the content posted on her poetry IG was hers. She tried to justify her way out from her own lies and sent me a screenshot of her Tumblr banner (one mistake she made). And this was the second part of my crazy discovery as I began to delve into her blog. Guessing her Tumblr URL and tracking it was a piece of cake even if she changed it upon my confrontation.
If there’s one thing I can proudly claim on the internet it’s that I was a part of the Tumblr O.G. back in 2007. This very account is already 8 years old (est.2015) and my third account since then. “Ask me anything” feature was only added sometime around mid-2010’s, and it took me a flooding of Anonymous asks before I came into addressing them as “Anons”. This person’s Tumblr account was created only October 2020*. She reiterated how she has no ill intention with any of her accounts which have no followers in it, to which I pointed out—if she has literally no followers, where did all the “ask me anything” came from? Were these lovely compliments and questions all fabricated by her too just to make it look like her page is gaining foot traffic in it? But then again it was all part of her gaslighting, diverting away from the main point which was her plagiarizing my prose.
At this point all I was able to say was FOR FUCKS SAKE. I was beyond speechless to discover how even some of our photos were the same. She also had some selfies in there that were the same replica pose of my past selfies.* She denied everything once again and stated how I was not the only person who knew apps. But Pins was an unknown app. Pins is not something that would pop-out on the app store as you type in search “collage maker.” It was something I discovered hands-on as I braved and tinkered through links and links of mandarin characters I do not understand. I think I may have shared some discovered Japanese and Chinese apps in this Tumblr account as well if you scroll all the way back. Anyhow as soon as I saw her photos using the exact frame from Pins, I immediately tried to recall where I may have shared the app away. I remember sharing it through a comment on Instagram when a friend complimented my post. I have not shared it anywhere else.
Alibi: “You’re not the only one who knows apps.”
True. But adding to all the prior things I mentioned above about the app, WHY the fucking fuck does she need to use the very same two frame collages I used, out of all the hundreds of frames found in Pins?
It does not end in here. There was a heck ton of other odd similarities—from her selfies posted there that are too sensitive to share away already, to specific favorite songs posted and captioned.
Part III — Conclusion
Once a cheater, always a cheater, as cliché as it is—they would never own up their mistakes. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Luna’s viral #F👁️👁️D eyes photo it’s that you gotta screenshot everything the second you find out about someone stealing your content, and you gotta fight for proper credits and rights. How this person tried to gaslight me when she said “I didn’t knew you were this shallow, why is this a big deal?” was something only a manipulative narcissistic person would say. Artists and creatives are so prone to having their content stolen in this modern era, and people like her who think things like this are no big deal are actually the first cause of this problem.
PS. Her Instagram was taken down. Too bad I already got the SSs.
*References on file