[awesome_dude]

The API arguments are interesting from another point of view - who really owns the content generated on a site like Reddit, Twitter, or Hacker News.

Once I send this post out, do I own it? Can I claim some sort of compensation for my comment being used in an AI training set?

Does HN (or whichever site I post the comment on) own the comment, and therefore should be compensated for the comment's use in said training set?

Do we both own the comment, and both have rights to its use?

[58x14]

Depending on the Terms of Service flavor your platform of choice serves you, it’s generally that you own the content you post, but grant an infinite, irrevocable license to use that content for just about any reason, including as an entry in a dataset sold to a separate entity for use training a large language model.

I think this is a really important question worth answering by future UGC-based platform incumbents.

[Macha]

Legally it's governed by the terms of use which for most sites say something along the effect of you retain copyright ownership but transfer a non-revocable unlimited license to the platform.

Sometimes other legislation, like EU right to to be forgotten, GDPR, etc. overrides that and they have to take it down, but otherwise they could pretty much do whatever.

[suddenclarity]

GDPR doesn't force a forum to take down content unless it contains private information. It's enough to just change the username to a random string and then it's no longer tied to you. Authorities in my country published guidelines about it because plenty of people saw it as an opportunity to get rid of shit they wrote when they were younger.