Using Twitter, Change.org and her own site, internet personality Akilah Hughes pitched an assault against popular website BuzzFeed. Using the hashtag #StopBuzzThieves (which was trending on at least one CNET editor's Twitter page), Hughes and her supporters allege that BuzzFeed, specifically its video vertical, steal ideas from others without compensation or credit to their work.
Hughes' examples range from BuzzFeed Video series Ask an Asian to a video that explores what happens when you smash certain foods in the waffle iron. Hughes cites herself among those whom BuzzFeed has wronged. So far, Hughes' outcry was retweeted 137 times on Twitter.
Over a private Twitter conversation, Hughes said she had contacted BuzzFeed over Twitter to ask where they got an idea for a video she says they plagiarized, but had not emailed the company directly to lodge a complaint.
Hughes hopes that BuzzFeed will take down the videos whose originality is called into question, and create an internal policy that would better safeguard the work of independent creatives online. Hughes would welcome a monetary settlement as part of a public change in BuzzFeed's corporate policy, she said, so long as others' complaints were also financially settled.
BuzzFeed did not respond to a request for comment.
Update, 2:25 p.m. PT: Adds comments from Akilah Hughes.
Discuss: Anti-BuzzFeed petition #StopBuzzThieves starts
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