WWE extending third party ban to sponsored Twitter and social media posts

[Roadster]

WWE has confirmed that talents are banned from monetizing their Twitter and Instagram accounts by working with third parties.

It was originally reported on Monday, via Wrestling Inc, that WWE was issuing “violations” to talent for tweets or Instagram posts that named any third party business, person, brand or charity. The violations begin with a warning, then a fine, and finally a talent suspension.

WWE is claiming ownership of talent Twitter and Instagram accounts via a clause in their contracts that gives WWE the exclusive use of their likeness. It was made clear to talents who have complained about the policy, that the current “flexibility” allowed in social media could be retracted by the company.

The original report was discussed on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez gave an example of talent taking casual photos in front of a car or restaurant, stating that those would be punishable offenses if those brands were mentioned in the post. In an update, WWE has clarified the policy to F4Wonline.com and stated that those would not be punishable offenses unless the talent was making money from promoting those brands.

WWE stated that the new policy is no different from the recent policy on third party content through platforms such as Cameo and Twitch. For several months now WWE has not allowed talent to create unauthorized content through third party providers like Cameo and Twitch, but the ban had not specifically included Twitter and Instagram posts, until now.

WWE is going on the guise that the contractual ownership of the likeness of their performers includes all social media accounts, regardless of whether the accounts use the stage names or the real names of the talent.

This latest policy means WWE talents are potentially missing out on significant earnings. As noted before, a recent LoveUX study estimated that Lana earned $625,922 from 59 sponsored posts in 2020 ($10,608 per post), while Mandy Rose earned an estimated $490,104 from 71 sponsored posts in 2020 ($6,902 per post).

Source

This is really going to backfire. I highly doubt Lana and Rose are gonna bother sticking around with WWE if they're getting $500k cut from their coffers. There's enough money in wrestling outside of the WWE to completely nullify any reason for WWE stars to even bother. It's a shame too, for a few years WWE was actually opening up and leaving their bubble, but they're closing themselves right back in.

 

[InsaneAlphaBeta]

Yup, they cant name anything, which is just rediculess. Like a superstar was infront of a resturant with their friends and they took a pic, that would more then likely count. I doubt they even even mention any movies or games either.

Like i said in my profile post...What a great company....

 

[PaulDB]

Well, Instagram and Twitter are ways of making money on the side and that's been done for centuries. Only difference now is we can do it online. This ban is a slap in the face of history.