My ex-friend shared my story as if it were their own memory

I’ve been following an old high school friend on social media for a while. Recently, they took a story I wrote and shared it on their own page without even tagging me; it really looks like it’s their writing. Should I warn them, or just stop following them without saying anything? Is my dilemma really that big…

7 Answers

7

I think he definitely has an issue with you. Why would he take your story out of the blue? It’s not just stealing your writing; it seems like he’s trying to send you a message. Maybe he’s holding a grudge because of some old matter.

I’ve come across this quite a bit, especially on social media. There’s no respect for effort anymore, really. But most of the time, people perceive these things as ‘sharing,’ not with bad intentions. Talk about it; they might not even be aware.

Let me bring some clarity to this. What you did is called theft. Period. It dismisses your effort and profits off your work. Staying silent about this, no matter who it is, will only lead to further repetition. You must speak up.

I’m about to say something, but don’t roast me. If you shared the story, everyone can see it anyway. Maybe they liked it too and didn’t think it would be obvious who they got it from. Maybe I’m one of those people who thinks stuff shouldn’t be put on the internet.

Look, I’m not a lawyer, but there’s a fine line here. In order to claim copyright or similar, you need to prove that the writing somehow belongs to “you.” However, if you’ve shared it openly, it might appear to others as “free content.” Still, it’s not ethical, and you have the right to confront this.

Let me give you some updated information, someone else who saw the post also wrote to me, asking, “This resembles your story, but did the author change?” So, people have started to notice. But I still haven’t decided what to do :woman_shrugging:

You guys have blown this way out of proportion. It’s just a story, as if someone stole a Nobel prize. Maybe the person who wrote it is just too invested in the piece? Also, the article is public; haven’t they seen where it was shared? Funny.