For the second time in less than two months, the NFL has decided to change its social media policy.
Just a mere seven weeks ago, the NFL appeared to lay down the hammer when it came to teams posting video highlights or GIFs to their personal media accounts. The NFL stated that turning highlights into GIFs or shooting video (which includes Facebook Live, etc.) of any sort inside the stadium during the game window (kickoff to one hour after the game ends), would result in hefty fines.
A first offense would have cost teams $25,000, $50,000 for a second offense and $100,000 for each additional offense after that.
Essentially, the NFL wanted to make sure they were catching responsibility for the highlights and content displayed on the individual team’s social media accounts. Getting their fair share of the benefits of social media. Teams were allowed to post highlights and such to their social media accounts only after the NFL itself had made them readily available, seemingly eerily similar to a two-year-old yelling, “Mine!”
Now, on Friday, the league has changed its policy once again.
According to Yahoo Finance, the NFL has entered a “test agreement” with Giphy, which is a free GIF server. Obviously, this will provide extra income for the NFL. They have decided to loosen the stranglehold they created on social media since they will see a piece of the pie anyway.
Under the new terms, teams are allowed to post their own social media content, as long as it isn’t actual gameplay, such a touchdown dances, halftime shows, cheerleaders and any extracurricular activity that isn’t the actual game of football. The only live football that can be filmed is via Snapchat, where five snaps of live action are permitted per game.