In Case C-598/24, Gândul Media Network, the CJEU confirmed that a short text published on a social media platform may qualify as a “work” under Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC.
The key is originality.
A post may be protected where it constitutes an original intellectual creation reflecting the author’s personality, expressed through free and creative choices.
Its brevity, informal nature or publication on social media does not, in itself, exclude copyright protection.
And an important practical point: publicly accessible does not mean free to reproduce. Whether an exception applies — such as reporting current events — is a separate question.
The judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle of EU copyright law: copyright protection turns on the originality of the expression, not the medium through which it is communicated.
