Social media posts copyright: CJEU Gândul Media ruling

Yes: on 3 September 2026 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in Gândul Media (C-598/24) that a social media post can be a copyright work if it is its author’s own intellectual creation, whatever its length. The Court also held that Member States may limit the news reporting exception to short extracts, but may not ban media outlets from profiting from it. The ruling on social media posts copyright matters to publishers, brands and agencies that reuse content from social networks in the EU.

Key takeaways

A 22-line Facebook post by a teacher can qualify as a “work” under Article 2(a) of the InfoSoc Directive (2001/29/EC) if it reflects free and creative choices.
Length, publication online and literary genre are irrelevant to originality, unless rules or constraints left no room for creativity.
Member States may restrict the current events exception to short extracts, provided the restriction is proportionate.
A general ban on deriving any commercial benefit from the exception is incompatible with EU law.
Republishing a whole post will rarely be covered by the exception, except for very short texts that cannot be excerpted.

What was the Gândul Media case about?

According to the judgment of the Court of Justice (Second Chamber) of 3 September 2026, a Romanian teacher published on her Facebook page, on 8 September 2021, a 22-line text titled “Short guide for parents at the start of the school year”, explaining that she did not want gifts from pupils’ parents. Six days later, the online daily Gândul reproduced the entire text in an article, without her consent; her name and a link to the post were added later.

The Bucharest courts dismissed her infringement claim, holding that the text was not protected. On appeal, Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice asked whether such a post can be a work, and whether national law could limit the news reporting exception to short extracts and to uses without commercial benefit.

Are social media posts protected by copyright in the EU?

They can be. The Court applied its settled test: a work exists where the subject matter is original, in the sense of being its author’s own intellectual creation reflecting free and creative choices, and is expressed in a way identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity.

The key passage for practice is paragraph 25: the length of a text, the fact that it was posted online and whether it belongs to a recognised genre are irrelevant, unless rules or technical constraints left the author no creative freedom. Originality arises from the choice, sequence and combination of words. Whether the teacher’s post meets the test is for the Romanian court, although the Court noted that, on the information provided, she appeared to have made free and creative choices.

What did the Court say about the news reporting exception?

Article 5(3)(c) of the InfoSoc Directive allows Member States to permit the use of works in connection with the reporting of current events, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose and with the source and author’s name indicated. The Court confirmed that a newspaper’s use of a teacher’s post about school gifts, at the start of the school year, may count as reporting a current event, and that reporting does not require inviting readers to react.

National restriction	Compatible with EU law?	Court’s reasoning
Use limited to short extracts	Yes, if proportionate	Freedom of the press does not always require full publication; full reproduction may conflict with normal exploitation under the three-step test of Article 5(5), except for very short texts that cannot be excerpted
Ban on any direct or indirect commercial or financial benefit	No	No basis in the wording of Article 5(3)(c); media outlets necessarily pursue an economic activity, so the ban undermines the exception and upsets the balance between Articles 11 and 17 of the Charter

What this means for your business

The ruling applies across the EU and reaches beyond the press. Our recommendations:

Treat original posts as protected works by default, including short texts, captions and threads, and seek permission before reusing them outside the platform.
Do not stretch the news exception to marketing. The exception covers reporting of current events; a brand campaign or sponsored content will rarely qualify.
Quote, do not copy. Where the exception applies, use only what the informatory purpose justifies and always credit the author and the source.
Check the platform’s terms. A licence a user grants to a social network generally serves that network’s service; confirm whether it extends to your intended use before relying on it.

In Spain, the corresponding exceptions are in the Intellectual Property Law (TRLPI): Article 35.1 permits the use of works seen or heard in the course of reporting current events only to the extent justified by the informatory purpose, and Article 32 governs quotation. If your company reuses social content in several EU markets, our copyright team for digital content and social media can set clearance rules that hold up in each one.

Where companies go wrong with social media content

Assuming short means free. The Court has now said expressly that length is irrelevant to originality.
Equating “public” with “free to use”. A post visible to everyone is still protected; visibility is not a licence.
Adding the credit after the fact. Naming the author later does not cure an unauthorised full reproduction.

When a takedown demand or claim arrives, our IP disputes team can assess whether an exception applies and negotiate a solution before it escalates.

Frequently asked questions

Can a short social media post be protected by copyright?

Yes. In Gândul Media the Court of Justice held that length, online publication and genre are irrelevant: what matters is whether the author made free and creative choices in selecting and combining the words. A purely factual or formulaic message may fail the test, but an opinion expressed in an original way can qualify.

Can a news site reproduce a post in full under the current events exception?

Rarely. The use must be limited to what the informatory purpose justifies, and Member States may limit it to short extracts. The Court indicated that full reproduction may conflict with normal exploitation of the work, except for very short texts where extracts are impossible. The source and author’s name must be indicated.

Can IP Global Guard review our social media content policies?

Yes. We review how your teams reuse third-party posts, draft clearance and credit rules, and handle claims in either direction. For campaigns running in Latin America or Africa as well as the EU, we coordinate qualified local correspondents so your policy works across the corridor from a single point of contact.

How IP Global Guard can help with social media copyright

Gândul Media confirms that everyday online texts can carry real copyright, and that exceptions have limits. IP Global Guard, the IP services line of META Channel Corporation Limited, advises on copyright clearance, licensing and disputes with one strategy across more than 25 jurisdictions in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Tell us how your brand or newsroom uses social media content and in which markets. We will review the practices that carry risk and propose clear rules for your teams. Contact our copyright team.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the position on the date of publication.