High Court rules social media posts are protected by copyright

What the report says

The Independent Uganda, citing URN, reported that Uganda’s High Court has ruled that original social media content can be protected by copyright. The decision was delivered on July 27, 2026, at the Commercial Court in Kampala by Justice Dr. Ginamia Melody Ngwatu, in a case brought by lawyer and digital content creator Silver Kayondo against Monitor Publications Limited, Africa Broadcasting Uganda Limited trading as NTV Uganda, a Monitor managing editor, and journalist Deogratious Wamala.

According to the report, Kayondo sued after an August 2023 post he made on X, formerly Twitter, about the World Bank and Uganda was used in a September 2023 news article. He alleged that the defendants reproduced and changed his work without consent, wrongly attributed statements to him, misrepresented his views, and harmed his professional reputation. The defendants denied liability, arguing that the post contained ideas rather than copyrightable expression and that their use was protected as fair use in coverage of a public issue.

The court rejected that defence, finding that ideas can receive copyright protection once expressed in a material form, including through social media posts. The judge found that the article copied from Kayondo’s post, altered wording in a way that changed meaning, and attributed additional statements to him that he had not published. The court said fair use for reporting current events does not protect inaccurate quotation or distortion that damages an author’s reputation.

Kayondo had sought several remedies, including declarations, injunctions, an apology and UGX 250 million in damages. The court awarded UGX 150 million. The ruling may be significant for Ugandan media houses, journalists and online creators because it affirms that social media posts are not automatically free to reproduce or modify without legal risk.