Local “Indivisible” Group Removes Copyrighted News Content From Social Media, Website

Yesterday afternoon Radio Free Hub City released a news article highlighting an ICE operation in Frederick. A few hours later, we were quite surprised to learn that the article in its entirety had been republished without permission in the Washington County Indivisible Facebook group. But even more concerning, after contacting Washington County Indivisible to notify them of the copyright violation, our emails were read, but never acknowledged or actioned. As of this morning, the article was still in the group in its entirety. This is part of a long list of content which has been copied by Washington County Indivisible members while under the leadership of Dave Williams, a current County Commissioner candidate, and Eric Schwartz, Associate Professor at Hagerstown Community College. The Indivisible News Archive contains full-text reproductions of copyrighted articles from regional outlets, raising broader concerns regarding systematic content scraping.

UPDATE 9/6/2026 1:56 PM – We have included at the end of the article a statement from Washington County Indivisible.

UPDATE 9/6/2026 11:20 AM – Washington County Indivisible has removed our copyrighted content from their Facebook group, and a statement from their communications director is will be provided soon.

Upon reviewing Indivisible’s web site, we identified numerous publishers’ content being duplicated on their News Archive page. Victims include The Herald-Mail, The Baltimore Banner, The Baltimore Sun, WBAL, DC News Now, and NBC News 4 Washington. An article from Maryland Matters is also included, who allows content to be republished freely under Creative Commons, as long as republishing includes attribution and a link to their website. We do not have direct access to Indivisible’s Facebook group, so we are unable to verify if other publishers have had their content republished inside that group as well. An archived version of this page has been created on Archive.is to provide necessary proof for any news publishers which look to seek legal action against Indivisible. Many of the original articles are behind paywalls.

As soon as we learned about our content being copied without authorization, we immediately contacted Washington County Indivisible. Our first email was read at 4:25 PM, and the follow-up email read at 9:35 PM. As of this morning at 9 AM, the content remains in its entirety in the Facebook group.

Radio Free Hub City is one of the last locally owned news sources in Washington County. We operate on a shoestring budget, heavily dependent upon advertising revenue and supporters, since we don’t hide our news articles behind a paywall. By members violating our copyright by copying and pasting our articles in their entirety, and group leadership contributing to this copyright infringement by failing to act in a timely manner after being notified of the infringement, Radio Free Hub City is being denied revenue which would otherwise be generated by users visiting our site. Because breaking news traffic peaks within 24 hours, unauthorized full-text republication causes immediate, unrecoverable commercial damage to our ad revenue for every minute it remains online. With over 1,000 members in the Washington County Indivisible Facebook group, that’s over 1,000 potential page views (and corresponding ad views) which our site is being denied.

So who is Indivisible? According to their website they are “a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.” The local chapter leadership, who are admins or moderators of their Facebook group, includes Dave Williams, who is currently running for County Commissioner, and Eric Schwartz, who teaches political science at Hagerstown Community College. Other group admins or moderators include Jenna Hartwig, Stephanie Fogle, Jess McKinley, and “Karma S-comin”, all of which do not appear to have as much of a public presence as Williams and Schwartz.

Williams, according to his campaign website, is a former School Library Media Specialist, and one of his key campaign bullet points is to “value and respect county residents.” Williams, whose account was previously restricted on Radio Free Hub City’s Facebook page following comment moderation disputes before being unblocked earlier this year, has frequently criticized the outlet’s coverage.

Schwartz, in addition to teaching political science is also associated with Speak Up Community News, another local news outlet in Washington County. According to Speak Up’s Facebook page, Schwartz has previously worked at multiple newspapers, and therefore would be well aware of the legal responsibilities regarding copyrighted content and news articles.

Following publication of this report, Washington County Indivisible issued an official statement attributing the delayed response to missed emails and stating that it is not group policy to infringe on copyrights. The full statement reads:

Washington County Indivisible is a small, all-volunteer group. As such, we do our best to monitor communications in a timely manner, but unfortunately missed the [Saturday] evening emails from Radio Free Hub City alerting us to their concerns about how we shared one of their articles on our website. 

It is NOT the policy of WCI to infringe on the copyrights of any other news outlet, and if we have done so, it was only in error. 

We have taken the following steps: First, we truly apologize to anyone who feels we have infringed on their copyright. We have scoured our website and Facebook pages and removed any archived or live material that could be violating such copyrights. We have taken steps within the organization to ensure that volunteers better understand what may be considered a copyright infringement and how to properly share copyrighted materials on our website and social media feeds. 

WCI’s intention is always to share information in a way that respects content creators and our membership. 

Kate Rader, on behalf of Washington County Indivisible

Editor’s Note: WCI’s original statement accidentally said the incident occurred on Friday, when it in fact occurred on Saturday. Digital read receipts confirm that Radio Free Hub City’s initial legal notices were opened on Saturday at 4:25 PM and 9:35 PM prior to publication. Following Radio Free Hub City’s report, Washington County Indivisible confirmed it conducted a sweep of its public website to remove archived and live copyrighted material.

In response to the violation, Radio Free Hub City began preparing formal enforcement measures. Initial steps included issuing a retroactive licensing invoice under the outlet’s published site terms, which assess a $2,500 fee for unauthorized full-text redistribution. These enforcement measures have been put on hold in light of Indivisible’s removal of the content, although it is estimated this unauthorized duplication significantly reduced total page views (damaging our ad revenue). Most news articles get the bulk of their views in the first 24 hours, and this infringement was in place for 18 of those hours. Should the matter occur again, the outlet may pursue statutory enforcement through the federal Copyright Claims Board or federal court, where willful infringement penalties carry statutory limits up to $150,000 per violation, alongside potential personal liability for group leadership.

Article by Ken Buckler, President of Radio Free Hub City

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