Why is Hailey Baldwin getting SUED over an Instagram post?
We’ve all had those moments where we see something on the internet that we just LOVE and we want to share it with all our friends.
Whether it’s a funny video or picture, a beautiful quote, something inspiring, or just the most bizarre thing you’ve ever seen (because the internet is FULL of bizarre things), there’s an almost compulsive need to share things with your friends.
Yet, as Hailey Baldwin has now learned, there’s a risk with constantly sharing everything you see online.
Cast your minds back to last month and the supposed public feud between Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Bieber’s fans, and an unwitting Sofia Richie.
Basically, Selena and Justin exchanged a war of words on Instagram, which resulted in the hashtag #SelenaEndedJustinParty. Things got heated because Justin was frustrated with fans being rude about his then-rumored-girlfriend Sofia Richie.
Justin ended up closing his Instagram account, and Selena ended up apologizing for what she said.
In the midst of this drama was Hailey Baldwin who, after sharing the following quote to her 7.5 million followers on her Instagram, seemed to make a comment about the feud.
While discernibly cryptic, people assumed that the quote was a commentary on Bieber and Selena’s spat due to Hailey’s relationship with the pair (she’s a friend of Selena’s and is Justin’s ex-girlfriend).
However, it seems that Hailey’s quote might not have been as spur of the moment as things appeared.
According to Page Six, Long Island author Melissa Molomo is claiming that Hailey stole the quote from her 2015 book Say What’s Real and didn’t credit her properly. Sending out a cease-and-desist letter, Molomo has demanded an apology from the model.
"In copying and using Ms. Molomo’s work without permission, you have taken credit and caused confusion as to whom the original author of this work is," the letter reads.
It then goes on to explain that Hailey could be sued for damages of up to $150,000! Eeek!
The letter goes on to say that Hailey needs to "make a social media post apologizing for stealing Ms. Molomo’s content and fraudulently passing it off as your own."
As Page Six reports, Hailey has yet to respond to the accusations.
What this does go to show, however, is that while you may want to share that artwork or quote that you see with your friends on social media, crediting where things are from is SO important.
