Meta is expanding its efforts to support creators on Facebook and Instagram with a new set of content protection tools designed to help track and manage accounts that repost videos without permission. The update responds to long-standing complaints from creators who have struggled to monitor copycat reels across Meta’s platforms, where short-form video reuse has become increasingly common and often difficult to police.
The new feature, called content protection, automatically identifies when a creator’s original reel has been uploaded elsewhere, whether in full or in part. Once detected, the reposted clip appears in a dedicated dashboard where creators can review who shared the material and decide how to respond. The system builds on Meta’s previous rights manager framework but moves key functionality into the Facebook app itself, lowering the barrier for creators who are not familiar with Meta’s more complex backend tools.
The available response options aim to offer flexibility depending on context. A creator can choose to track a repost, which adds a label crediting the original source and provides ongoing visibility into how many views the reposted reel is generating. This approach may appeal to creators who want attribution and traffic without restricting circulation. Alternatively, a creator can block the clip, making it inaccessible to viewers. Meta notes that blocking a repost does not introduce additional penalties for the account responsible for lifting the content, signaling that the company is treating the tool more as a management system than an enforcement mechanism. A third option, release, removes the repost from the creator’s dashboard entirely, ending visibility into its performance and essentially de-prioritizing it.
The dashboard also includes useful details that can influence these decisions, such as whether the reposted reel is being monetized. That information could be particularly relevant to creators deciding between attribution and blocking, as monetized reuse often raises stronger concerns about revenue loss and unauthorized commercial benefit. Reposts originating from small accounts, by contrast, may not trigger the same response, and creators can choose to simply monitor them.
While Meta has supported parts of this workflow before, the shift to integrating content protection directly into the Facebook app signals an attempt to reach a wider group of creators. However, the tool currently applies only to reels that were originally posted on Facebook. Even though it can detect unauthorized uploads on Instagram, creators will not receive protection unless their original content lives on Facebook, a limitation that may affect those who publish primarily on Instagram.
Meta says the rollout is underway for creators in its monetization program who meet integrity and originality requirements, as well as those already using rights manager. Others can apply for access as the company continues extending the feature. For creators navigating the increasingly crowded and fast-paced short-form video landscape, the addition of lightweight tracking and control tools may help level a space where credit and distribution often blur.
