Acromax Media, political police in the hands of Erion Veliaj?

A few days ago I explained how Acromax Media , likely in collaboration with the government, is trying to silence critical voices on social media by abusing copyright laws.

The actions of the Acromax corporation have led, until now, to the closure of several pages and profiles on Facebook, which had published critical videos, mainly against the Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj and Prime Minister Rama.

The sites had used short video clips from politicians' public appearances in television studios or broadcast by television channels. Acromax considers these public statements of politicians as "artistic or intellectual creation" and does not allow their distribution by anyone.

According to the standard that Acromax is trying to establish, no one can use video footage of politicians, including as a reference to their promises or public statements to citizens, without obtaining prior permission from them or from the media that broadcast these public footage.

Below I will explain what type of videos the company Acromax has blocked, and how this has led to the closure of pages and personal profiles. Above all, I will explain how Acromax's actions do not respect the normal copyright standards applied anywhere in the Western world.

After the agreement with the main televisions of the country, Acromax claims ownership in every post that uses clips from the programs of these televisions. In an extreme way, the company claims that it has the right of ownership even when the video clips are montages of different images, prepared by the publishers themselves in social networks, taken as a reference to discuss the public political statements of the politicians.

As I  explained earlier , Acromax paid special attention to the posts containing the promises related to the constructions in Tirana made by Erion Veliaj in the 2015 campaign. Each video montage contained Veliaj's famous promise in 2015, where he explains how it would not allow construction in Tirana, has been blocked by Acromax.

Another example is when, after the victory in the 2015 elections, Erion Veliaj declared on Top-Channel that one of the remaining sports fields near the city center (known as the 'black field' of the former Palace of Pioneers) will to be turned into a park. Veliaj repeated his promise that the ongoing construction of Tirana would stop and public spaces would be preserved. This promise turned out to be a lie, and today a 13-story complex is being built on the former sports ground.

The above video was immediately slammed by Acromax across multiple Facebook pages where it was posted, and Facebook and YouTube forced its removal at Acromax's request, thus preventing the video from being viewed on social media.

Another similar promise of Veliaj was made a few days before the 2015 elections. In Vizion Plus, Erion Veliaj stated that the area under the Lake Park dam would be transformed into a "wonderful park, thanks to an international competition".

Today, an endless series of buildings over 10 stories are being built throughout the area and the spaces around it, which are turning living and movement into a constant nightmare for the residents.

The above video was also promptly blocked by Acromax.

Veliaj's most important statement, where he clearly articulated his promise, was made on June 9, 2015, on the most watched political show in Albania, Klan TV Opinion. During the conversation, Veliaj was caught by several questions, mainly from Andi Bushati. In the face of his constant skepticism, Veliaj made some big promises, which have come back to haunt him.

He stated that:

It is clear that this promise has been completely broken. The wave of constructions approved by Veliaj knows no bounds and is leading the city towards total collapse.

However, he has tried to backtrack on his statements in 2015, trying to change his promise. Unfortunately for him, the 2015 statement was all too clear. It has been used repeatedly in video montages like the one below:

Acromax has attacked this and similar videos, claiming that Veliaj's promise in 2015 is the company's "intellectual property" due to an agreement it has with TV Klan. Therefore, that video clip cannot be used by third parties and is disappearing completely from the Internet.

Also, other short video clips, edited or not, are consistently removed from Acromax. A number of individuals have complained that Acromax is preventing them from using videos featuring themselves.

Sites like  Citizens for the Park ,  Protester ,  Nisma Thurje , Lolita.,  Alliance for the Protection of the Theater ,  Broadway Elbow  , etc. their video posts have been removed.

In some cases, their rights to publish posts on the site have been temporarily blocked, while the administrators' personal profiles have been deleted from Facebook.

As far as is known, "Ne Albania", a Facebook page which was particularly focused on urban developments in Tirana, has been closed by Facebook at the request of Acromax.

No, it's not.

Under the US Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107, "fair use" of copyrighted materials is permitted for "such purposes as criticism, commentary, news reporting, education ( including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research work”.

As long as users do not use the material for profit, but strictly for informational or educational purposes only, according to Article 107, copyrighted materials can be used, even without the consent of the producer himself. This principle allows multiple videos to be shared by private individuals on social networks, even if they include music or film clips that are covered by copyright.

It is worth noting that Article 107 applies to those materials that are traditionally covered by copyright laws - music, film, sports events, etc. It is very difficult to claim that politicians' statements on public issues, on public broadcasting frequencies, can even be considered as "copyright material".

In fact, I have not found any cases where copyright laws have been used to prevent the distribution of this type of material, as no one has been crazy enough to claim such a thing. Banning the use of political statements can easily be seen as a violation of freedom of speech.

The United States has long established limits regarding the use of copyright law. As the largest producer of entertainment (movies, music) and science material, the US has long forced other countries to enforce copyright laws. Every country interested in trading with the US—virtually all—has had to update and enforce property rights to US standards. These standards clearly include "fair use".

The campaign of the Acromax company is clearly politically motivated and violates the fundamental political rights of a democratic society, abusing the principles of copyright protection. Unfortunately for them, their actions are completely illegal. Applying copyright laws to political material is a serious mistake, which is likely to cost the company dearly in the near future./ https:/Exit.al

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