The crash that injured fans at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday put the spotlight on an interesting social media dilemma. According to a Feb. 25 article on Mashable.com, the issue of fans posting their own photos and videos from NASCAR races and other sporting events is now a controversial and complicated issue.
After the terrifying crash that catapulted all matter of debris into the stands, including an engine, videos began to appear on YouTube and other social media sites. NASCAR requested that the videos be removed in respect to the privacy of the injured. According to Mashable.com , NASCAR issued the following explanation of their actions later on Saturday night:
"The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today's NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today's accident. Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident."
YouTube complied and removed the videos. After quite a lot of backlash, they reinstated the videos with the following explanation to the Washington Post:
"Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos."
So, if you purchase a ticket to a NASCAR race or other event that is contracted by the sport to a media outlet, does this mean you are not allowed to share any footage or shots that you obtain of a spectacular and newsworthy scene like Saturday’s wreck? Evidently, NASCAR thinks so. This subject will surely be revisited by those on both sides of the issue.
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