Twitter Squelches Account for Tweeting Every Frame of 'Top Gun'

Twitter Squelches Account for Tweeting Every Frame of 'Top Gun'

Update: After close to 24 hours, the @555uhz Twitter account is functional, though it hasn't tweeted since Tuesday, and some images are unable to display because of copyright claims.

 

If you're thinking of paying tribute to your favorite film by tweeting about it one frame at a time, don't bother. The movie studio will issue a copyright complaint, your Twitter account will be suspended, and the time you spent will yield no results.

Such was the case for Twitter user "@555uhz." The person behind the account updated it every hour with a couple of images and quotes from the 1986 film "Top Gun." In a month the Twitter handle built up about 7,000 followers and more than 1,500 updates. But Paramount Pictures caught wind of the account, and its lawyers asked Twitter to quickly abort the mission.

"It has come to our attention that a user of your website, @555uhz, is distributing the Top Gun film, frame by frame, via your website," the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP writes in the notice. "We request that you immediately remove all the Top Gun images from this website relating to the @555uhz user account."

The notification also listed the various URLs of the photos. Twitter took down the account. According to the social network's Digital Millennium Copyright Act policy, users can file a counternotice.

"Re-posting material removed in response to a DMCA notification may result in permanent account suspension," the site states. "If you believe the content was removed in error, please file a counter-notification rather than simply re-posting the material."

Technically, there might be a small chance for one more flyover after all. But this sounds like an uphill battle that even Maverick couldn't handle.