Model Hailey Baldwin is being sued for plagiarism over an Instagram quote

Author Melissa Molomo says Baldwin posted her work without attribution.

Feb 28, 2020, 11:41 pm*

IRL

Jaya Saxena

Hailey Baldwin, model and daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, is being threatened with legal action by author Melissa Molomo after she posted a lengthy quote of her work to Instagram without attribution. Which, among other things, is just a reminder that some people actually read paragraphs-long Instagram captions.

According to Page Six, after Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber got into some sort of public fight on Instagram, Baldwin (who also dated Bieber) showed her support for Gomez by posting an image of a paragraph to Instagram about respect and flawed humanity and learning from one’s errors.

Image via New York Post

Below the image are comments from Melissa Molomo, claiming those are words she wrote and asking Baldwin to give her credit. Molomo’s Instagram is full of inspirational quotes and paragraphs, and she clearly marks which are her own writing and which come from other sources. Molomo appears to have posted the image of her words in November 2015.

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The Daily Dot has reached out to Molomo for comment but hasn’t heard back as of this publishing. Her lawyer wrote in a cease and desist letter to Baldwin, “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.” Molomo is seeking a public apology.

The lesson here: No matter how easy it is to download an image and share it with your followers, you shouldn’t be sharing original work without attribution—which is something many people do.

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*First Published: Sep 20, 2016, 12:31 pm

Jaya Saxena

Jaya Saxena is a lifestyle writer and editor whose work focuses primarily on women's issues and web culture. Her writing has appeared in GQ, ELLE, the Toast, the New Yorker, Tthe Hairpin, BuzzFeed, Racked, Eater, Catapult, and others. She is the co-author of 'Dad Magazine,' the author of 'The Book Of Lost Recipes,' and the co-author of 'Basic Witches.'