I've noticed something interesting: when I find a content thief with a portfolio of thousands of stolen photos and videos�some of them mine�and I report them, there is a huge difference in how Adobe and Shutterstock handle the situation.

Adobe usually responds quickly, verifies the information, and if the claim is valid, they take drastic action. They don�t just remove the stolen video; they wipe out the entire account of the user trying to profit from stolen work. Once again, Adobe shows that they respect contributors.

Shutterstock, on the other hand, only removes the specific video that was reported, while leaving the rest of the thief�s portfolio intact�even though it's pretty obvious that if they stole one video, chances are they�ve stolen many others too.

So... what does this difference in approach say about Shutterstock? 

Related note, AS seems to be having a rule breaking/account purge this week.
FB groups are full of the usual suspects, mainly Pakistan/Bangladesh complaining their accounts have been blocked, and in some cases, complaining the 5-7 new accounts they got after the first one was banned are also blocked.

I just went to that group for the first time. I don't know how you can stand to read the stupid complaints there, when people get banned. I love the one you quoted, and there are others who have been banned more than once. Then they say Boycott Adobe. PLEASE do! 

Here's one of them arguing with a Chat Bot:



Yeah right, $2,000 I'd believe that.

The other group that says Adobe stock contributors has just spam, image after image, just spam, no conversation.

Good to see you and a few others, who answer with the truth. Cheaters and thieves will have their accounts closed. I'm also amused by the flow of the conversations, where every one of them, didn't do anything wrong, but they can't say why the account was closed. (or won't say) It's just Adobe being unfair and cheating them. 

Good to know that someone at Adobe is watching them.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 18, 2025, 17:24

I just went to that group for the first time. I don't know how you can stand to read the stupid complaints there, when people get banned.

My original purpose was people kept posting stolen portfolios on there and via that i found a fair bit of my stuff stolen so i could find the account and report it.  Other than that, its useful to keep on eye on the scale of abuse by certain regions (id argue its now an industrial scale of fraud/copyright abuse).
If its any consolation, the SS ones are even worse...

The last 2 days though has been amusing - a lot of toys being thrown from the pram by all the people finding out they're newly banned or their 5th account is no more and want a 6th.

I read what you had posted in the past about people selling collections and stolen files. Just looking recently, I see people selling accounts. Things like, if you need a name, I have a neighbor. There seems to be a trade and market for multiple accounts, selling the same collection to different people, and stolen images. I do get a chuckle at the people calling for a boycott, because Adobe caught them and closed their accounts.

Maybe I didn't say that right, in the first message. You have a strong stomach to keep going there and trying to help honest people, while the FB page is filled with scammers. If there's a flood of new closings and bans, I'd like to say, good work Adobe. And if your messages to them are doing anything, keep up the good work. Less of the get rich quick, dishonest people, should mean more for the rest of us.

They also complain in the adobe groups. that is why discussing blocked accounts is not allowed.

But there is the separate issue of getting your account blocked because criminals test their credit cards, this can affect everyone and I don�t think it is fair to have this threat hanging over us.

I do understand where the issue comes from, these gangs offer a full service. They start ports with stolen files, then sell you the prepared account and also offer a �service boost� by buying your files for a while to help boost rank.

Selling stock is just another grift, but with ai the problem has exploded because they have easy access to much more content than just the stolen files.

And they are creeping onto all agencies, but especially ss doesn�t seem very interested in clearing out ports with undeclared ai or stolen content.