Santa Ana considering ban on police blaring copyrighted music to avoid videos being shared online

The California city of Santa Ana is considering banning the police tactic of loudly playing copyrighted music during their interactions with the public to avoid video of themselves being shared on social media.

The tactic, which has been seen in cities nationwide recently, is often used by officers to prevent video taken of them via phone by bystanders and members of the public because social media platforms often scan their sites for copyrighted music in videos and remove them.

A 2021 video from Alameda County in Northern California showed an officer playing Taylor Swift music in front of protesters to avoid video of him being circulated online.

Filming officers is legal under the first amendment, as is asking questions of the officers. The practice of using copyrighted music to avoid the video being shared publicly is a legal loophole lawmakers in Santa Ana hope to close.

A city councilman confronted an officer in Santa Ana on April 4 for playing Disney music loudly in his neighborhood. When Councilman Jonathan Hernandez was woken by the music late at night, he went outside to ask the officer why he was playing the music at such a high volume. The officer replied, “Why? Because of copyright infringement.”

Hernandez is introducing a proposal in council that would ban the practice of playing copyrighted music in order to prevent videos of themselves being shared in Santa Ana.

“I hope that people that are proud supporters of law enforcement, that my act was not an act to spite law enforcement, but an attempt to build a bridge,” Hernandez said. “I think the challenge that we’re looking at here is we’re starting to see that it’s a practice occurring nationwide.”