Facebook page claims to be suspended by Meta after TVB's complaint

A Facebook page that contains information about TVB’s advertising strategy has been suspended, claiming that TVB had filed a complaint to meta about copyright infringement. On a backup page, the operator of the page "sayno4cctvb" claimed that five posts had been reported by TVB to Meta for copyright infringement, leading to the suspension of the page. The operator added that the posts were about the programme Sidewalk Scientist, in which the audience was advised to use a sprayer against other people; ads sponsored by healthcare product manufacturer Banitore and biotechnology company G-niib. In addition, a post containing comments about TVB programme STARS Academy was removed by Meta.

The operator said the last post removed by Meta was unknown. At the end of the post, the operator reminded commentators or pages about current affairs that covering the eyes of TVB celebrities or blurring the logo of TVB were "useless" when using TVB's works. "Facebook, or Meta, have favouritism towards TVB", the post said. In the same post, the operator said TVB has been using copyright infringement as an excuse to "suppress dissidents", showcasing the company's disrespect for the freedom of speech.

Last year, TVB registered an internet lingo often used by netizens who dislike the company and the name of an Instagram account that claims to delve into the broadcasting company’s advertising strategy. According to information from the Intellectual Property Department, the registration of trademark text of “sayno4tvb”, “SayNo4TVB”, “Sayno4tvb”, and “Say No 4 TVB” submitted by Zennora Group was filed on 5 October 2021.

“SayNo4TVB” is the name of accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Telegram that claim to offer information about TVB’s advertising strategy.

In a previous post, the owner of “sayno4tvb” said the name of this account is not grammatical. “It was a mistake made by other members when we started running the page. However, we did not bother to rename it since we have been using it for a long period of time,” the post wrote. “TVB understands that the name is ungrammatical but continues to register it with the government department. We believe that after completing the registration process, TVB will start reporting our account to social platforms. Apparently, TVB wants to wipe us out,” it added.

TVB's subsidiary Zennora Group also filed the registration of the trademark text of “CCTVB” and “cctvb” too under multiple categories, including Licensing of television programmes (Class 45), computer services (Class 42), services in relation to the production and distribution of television programmes(Class 41), provision of online discussion forums (Class 38), advertising and promotion (Class 35) and newspapers and magazines (Class 16), to name a few. CCTV is the acronym of China Central Television, a Chinese state-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to TVB for more details.

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