Cape News

Senator Hawley Press Office shared a series of posts on July 16, 2025, focusing on the use of copyrighted material by technology companies and the impact on creators. The tweets highlighted testimony and statements regarding alleged misuse of intellectual property by Meta employees and broader concerns about copyright infringement in the digital age.

In a post made at 17:02 UTC, Senator Hawley Press Office stated: "And there you have it: Evidence shows that Meta employees KNEW they shouldn’t use pirated material but did so anything https://t.co/dPHfLMvO9N". This tweet suggested that internal awareness existed among Meta staff regarding the inappropriate use of pirated content.

Shortly after, at 17:13 UTC, another tweet quoted bestselling author David Baldacci’s perspective on unauthorized use of his work by large technology firms. According to Baldacci: "Every single one of my books was presented to me in . . . three seconds, it really felt like I had been robbed of everything of my entire adult life that I had worked on."

At 17:50 UTC, the account referenced expert testimony from Professor Bhamati Viswanathan before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The tweet included her remarks: "If you know that you can go to a pirate website and steal things, why would you ever pay for anything again?...We need new technologies to flourish fairly."

The issue of copyright infringement has gained renewed attention as advances in technology make it easier both to copy protected works and distribute them widely. Recent congressional hearings have explored how artificial intelligence tools may scrape content from authors without permission or compensation. Lawmakers are considering whether existing legal frameworks sufficiently protect creators’ rights or if new legislation is needed to address emerging challenges in digital content management.