News On Japan

Tokyo Olympics bans fans from posting photos of the Games on their social media accounts

Jun 03, 2019 (soranews24.com) - Your medal-worthy Olympic venue selfies will have to stay within the confines of your phone, say organizers of 2020 Olympics.

The application period for the first round of 2020 Tokyo Olympics tickets just finished, and we’re sitting around anxiously waiting for the results to see which, if any, events we’ll get to go to in-person. As we were killing time, though, we took another look through the extensive fine print on the application form, and we came across something that’ll probably put a damper on a lot of fans’ enjoyment.

The various terms and clauses for the application include a section that states that ticket holders are allowed to take photos, as well as record video and audio, inside event venues, as long as it’s for personal use. That’s pretty standard, though the terms also state that intellectual property right ownership of said photos or recordings is to be held by the Olympic Organizing Committee. Again, though, many would say that’s not so terribly strict.

What’s likely to ruffle many more feathers, though, regards what the Tokyo Olympics apparently feels falls outside “personal use.”

In other words, you’re free to take as many photos and videos of the Olympics as you want, and share them with your friends, as long as you share them the old-fashioned way: by showing them to people you’re hanging out with face-to-face. Want to post them on Twitter or Facebook, even if your only followers are your close personal friends or immediate family members? Sorry, you’ll need to contact the IOC and ask for permission first, so keep your fingers crossed the organization is so well-staffed that they’ve got a team of employees just sitting around waiting to provide clearance so you can share some Olympic snapshots for Grandma or your friends from high school to see.

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