We live in an era of social media. No one needs to acquire a real skill to be famous anymore. With the help of Instagram and Facebook, everyone has become a local celebrity, which explains why Facebook users thought they could copyright their pictures and status updates.

This is the post some users have on their timelines:

“In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!”

The copyright statement then encourages users to post the update on their own walls to protect their content from being used by other users. “By the present communique, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents.”

Because Facebook is a public website, copyrighting the content will never be an option. Anything that is posted onto the site is fair game for public access and as the terms have always stated, you own the rights to your own content, so it’s up to you how the content is distributed. When you decide to delete any content, Facebook does not hold onto that content. It is deleted from the site.

Messages similar to this one have gone viral lately due to the fact that Facebook has recently become a public company. What seemed to have ignited the most current viral outburst was an announcement from Facebook made last week stating that the site was proposing to amend and change parts of its privacy policy.

Facebook released an official statement, reiterating the fact that users will always be and have always been in complete control of the content posted on their page and copyright rumors are completely false.