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Why is the following question downvoted/off-topic: How to save TikTok videos without watermark, with a local Open Source tool?

My request is feasible, technically speaking. Proprietary apps do exactly that. Now I want to do it with open source tools. Note that there is an entire tag for a similar service for YouTube: tag on the site with similar questions. Is there an other stack exchange site for questions about downloading web content? where should I ask this question instead?

A comment from spikey_richie about copyright:

Voted to close as it's off topic. However, the watermark is there for a reason. Content posted onto TikTok is copyright of the platform and the video maker. You can't just strip the watermark off and upload it to YouTube as your own creation.

First, not everyone lives in a country where American laws apply. Copyright laws are sometimes quite different from those in America (keyword fair-use).

Secondly, Why is it assumed that I am trying to re-upload TikTok videos and pass them off as my own? I could be removing the watermark to protect the privacy of a TikTok user. For example, a TikTok user is filming something criminal or morally bad and you want to share the video on another platform, but you do not want to start a witch hunt on the original uploader.

Another example is a Tiktok user who likes to show some naked skin. You want to send the video to a colleague (private chat), but without the username (to protect the user's privacy).

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  • The comment states "Voted to close as it's off topic. However ..." the however is an important qualifier that breaks apart the comment. The first part of the comment does not necessarily apply to the second part. "This is off topic. However that plays out I think that what you want to do may have ethical concerns depending on your end use."
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 9:33
  • You assume the author of that comment lives in America. I would agree that a question on how you remove a copyright watermark is indeed out of scope
    – Ramhound
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 12:57
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    The reasons you list are only valid if you are distributing them against the terms under which they were originally posted. Ignoring the violation of copyright and terms of service of the site that the videos were posted to, the people posting waived any hint of "privacy" by submitting them to a public service that adds its own watermark and effectively embeds the username into every frame of the video stream. If a "witch hunt" is not desired then it is far easier to achieve by not posting it elsewhere in the first place. Your "legitimate" reasons don't hold legal or ethical water.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 16:46
  • Another point on copyright is that - while it may be legal for you, in your country, to do so, Stack Exchange is US-based and must abide by rules in the US. Thus if Super User were to host advice on how to circumvent copyrights and watermarks, that could put them in a legal mess.
    – Robotnik
    Commented Dec 11, 2020 at 3:36
  • I live in the UK, but my comment is/was still valid.
    – spikey_richie
    Commented Dec 14, 2020 at 9:32

1 Answer 1

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You are essentially asking what tools websites and webapps use to erase watermarks.

Websites and webapps are off topic here and their inner workings are down to how the site was coded, and we have no idea what methods they chose.

Take the website part out of your question and it is essentially a product recommendation asking what programs to use to remove watermarks which would also be off topic here. It is not up to us to find tools for you.

We can help you use a tool you have found, but it is not our business to tell you what tools exist or are used by other people.

I'd suggest that what you actually need is to use Google. Searching for "video remove watermark command line" may well yield some results. You can further narrow the search by adding an operating system such as "Windows", "Ubuntu", "Mac" or so on.

You can read what is on or off topic at our help centre.

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