Sean Maynard

I want to address an ongoing issue affecting NBA content creators on this app. Recently, the @NBA has started targeting accounts with mass copyright claims on recent posts, which can eventually lead to accounts being suspended. My account was previously suspended because of this, but luckily, I was able to get it back. At a time when the NBA is becoming less and less accessible, I genuinely don’t understand why the league would go this route. Why make your product even harder to access by taking down accounts that essentially provide free advertising? It makes no sense to me. The NBA’s play-by-play highlight feature has also been down for weeks now, making it even harder for fans and content creators to access clips through their website. To make matters worse, the NBA does a terrible job of posting highlights on its own pages. If you check their accounts, you'll see how limited their content is compared to the amount of games being played every night. So how exactly are NBA fans supposed to keep up with their favorite teams if they can't afford to watch games live? For many fans, it's through the highlight accounts on this app. Adam Silver once said, “There’s a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free. And this is very much a highlights-based sport.” He said this while responding to concerns about the rising cost of watching NBA games across multiple streaming services. I find it extremely hypocritical that the same content fans are supposedly able to “consume for free” is now being targeted with copyright claims and taken down. The league should take notes from the NFL. They consistently post highlights across their platforms and make it easy for fans to keep up with the sport, even without watching every game live. Highlight accounts help grow the game, keep fans engaged, and give players more exposure. Instead of treating these accounts like a problem, the NBA should recognize the value they bring to the league.