# Is quoting an entire Tweet allowed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 12, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446 "2019-04-12T17:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/1 "2019-04-12T17:18:30Z")
I’m very active on Twitter, but I realise not everyone on this board is. Are we allowed to quote an entire tweet from a person in the public eye such as a reporter, pro athlete or a politician? Tweets are designed to be quite short, you’re allowed a maximum of 280 characters but most are much shorter. It’s difficult to determine what might be fair use with such a small amount of characters. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/2 "2019-04-12T17:22:57Z")
I’m not much of of Twitter user, but isn’t the whole thing pretty much designed for sharing? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/3 "2019-04-12T17:35:04Z")
It is and I retweet often on the Twitter app. I just didn’t know if the mods would consider it a copyright violation if I copied and paste an entire tweet to an SDMB thread. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/4 "2019-04-12T17:42:15Z")
I’ve done it regularly. It never even crossed my mind that it could be a copyright violation. I think Fair Use has you covered, but IANAL. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/5 "2019-04-12T17:51:23Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ve done it regularly. It never even crossed my mind that it could be a copyright violation. I think Fair Use has you covered, but IANAL. That’s exactly how I see it, news networks will often do it as well as sports networks. I was going to quite the entire Tulsi Gabbard tweet in that thread in elections since it was quite shocking to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/6 "2019-04-12T19:21:16Z")
I think it’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/7 "2019-04-12T19:26:22Z")
I’d think it’d depend on the content. A tweet could very well, for instance, contain an entire poem, and so be just as protected as any other poem. But a newsworthy statement by a presidential candidate? It’d be tough to discuss it without quoting it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/8 "2019-04-13T00:54:50Z")
Maybe not an exact comparison, and not a legal ruling, but here’s a commentary on [Haiku and the Fair Use Doctrine.](http://blogs.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/haiku-and-the-fair-use-doctrine/) TL;DR If you’re commenting on it, or using it for comment, it’s probably okay. If you’re claiming it’s yours, it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/9 "2019-04-13T18:30:37Z")
Copy it to a message board, sure. Copy it into your book of literary criticism, fine. Copy it into a news article relevant to the tweet, OK. Copy it into your novel as an epigraph, no. That last would potentially be infringement. Whether your use is a commercial interest comes into play, as does whether you are commenting on or criticizing the tweet. It’s also possible that the tweet isn’t original enough to merit copyright protection. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-quoting-an-entire-tweet-allowed/832446/10 "2019-04-14T20:31:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Maybe not an exact comparison, and not a legal ruling, but here’s a commentary on [Haiku and the Fair Use Doctrine.](http://blogs.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/haiku-and-the-fair-use-doctrine/) > > TL;DR If you’re commenting on it, or using it for comment, it’s probably okay. If you’re claiming it’s yours, it’s not. I clicked on this thinking it would be a legal ruling in haiku format. Sorely disappointed.