I recently came across a user (@user_2066426134) who has uploaded several models that seem to be direct reuploads of other creators’ work – including one of my own designs.
The models appear unchanged, just reuploaded under a different name and account. I recognize my own file and also noticed several other designs that I’ve seen on MakerWorld before, uploaded by different users.
I’ve reported the models via the normal reporting system, but I wanted to raise awareness here in case others are affected too. If you’re a creator, it might be worth checking if any of your work has been reuploaded by this account.
Does this kind of thing happen often? And if so, is there any way to reduce or prevent it in the future?
One idea might be to implement some sort of image similarity detection. For example, when a model is uploaded, the system could automatically compare the preview images to existing uploads. If there’s a strong match, it could trigger a manual review or warning.
This wouldn’t stop everything, of course, but it might help flag obvious duplicates and reduce blatant reuploads.
Unfortunately yes. I find accounts like that frequently. I’ll report every model and MW will usually remove them within 24 hours. One thing that’s very frustrating to me is MW won’t really do any investigating themself. What I mean is if you find an account with 20 stolen models, and you report 18 of them with links to the original creators… they will remove those 18 and leave the last 2. If you try to report a whole account and for the reason put something like “All models stolen” they will usually reject that report.
Some of these accounts are kids that might not understand how this all works, but most of them are adults just trying to scam Bambu out of a free printer.
That’s really unfortunate… I only just recently noticed this kind of thing for the first time, and it’s honestly a shame that it happens at all. There has to be a better system in place. Especially if an account has even a single stolen model, it should be taken down entirely. I mean, we’re talking about models from Makerworld being reposted on Makerworld. You’d think that at the very least, this platform would be a safe space for creators.
I find it pretty wild how theft like this seems to have almost no consequences. When I look around on Temu or Etsy, it’s insane how many people are clearly selling all kinds of Makerworld models without any licenses. Some of these accounts have tens of thousands of sales and are just straight-up selling the STLs directly.
But I guess that’s a whole other topic… (˘･_･˘)
Those all sound good to me. They would at least stop the base level crooks.
One thing I did notice, that is definitely a good sign, it looks like MW has someone responding to reports now 24 hours. In the past nothing happened until 8am CST but for the last few weeks reports would get cleared even if it was the middle of the night in China.
Absolutely agree. It’s great that the report team is active, but it still feels like patching leaks in a sinking ship. Automating parts of the process would really help.
STL/3MF/OBJ files could be checked using hash functions like MD5 or SHA256 — identical uploads would be flagged instantly unless modified. For preview images, even lightweight perceptual hashing (like pHash) could catch most reuploads.
It wouldn’t stop everything, but it could drastically cut down on blatant copy-paste theft with minimal dev effort.
And from there, you can keep refining things — there are so many ways to tackle this kind of abuse without relying on constant manual moderation. In the end, it makes life easier for the staff and drastically reduces workload. That way, more resources could be focused on dealing with the more serious and complex issues.
Ultimately, it’s all about making Makerworld the best platform it can be. A place where creators feel safe, valued, and at home.
Legally, user-content hosting sites (of which make world is one) are only regulated to be bound to REACT to reports of theft. They do not have to be proactive, and are not penalized for violations that go “unnoticed”. Aka it is up to YOU to police THEM. Penalties only have a chance of applying if the violations are reported, valid, AND NOT acted upon. Therefore it is in their financial interest to not develop detection, and to detect as few as possible…
Look at this one… 289 models. So far every one I’ve pulled up is stolen from Printables or one of the other sites. I guarantee you if I report 100 of them they’ll leave the account and the other 189.
Just noticed that too. The model looked familiar! At least he printed and photographed it himself, that’s already quite a bit of effort. But he still used my cover image as the third picture. Seems like one of those piracy cases where an MD5 hash check wouldn’t catch it due to slight modifications (2 plates > 1 Plate) before reuploading.
But what actually happens to him? In the end, nothing? Does he at least get to keep the points? I’m not trying to make a big deal out of this or start complaining — it’s just really bold and honestly a bit sad how easy it seems to be to get away with stuff like this.
No, they remove the points for every model they take down. So far I’ve reported about 30 of them. People have posted screen shots on the social tab before showing they were like -7000 points lol.
I also tried the other thing just to see if it works this time, I reported the whole account and put, “All models stolen from other modeling sites”. I hope it works because this is a LOT of reporting lol.
I think he removed my Triceratops after I left a comment. Could’ve been the IP report too, but I have a feeling it was him — he’s still actively uploading new models right now.
I don’t think anyone’s responding to reports right now so it was probably because of your comment. I usually just report them because what he probably did was just make it private so he can put it back up later.
I’m not familiar with him. I normally don’t look at the Hueforge accounts… the only reason this one caught my eye is today he started posting stolen 3D models that I recognized.
Some of the models are already gone, and there are fewer and fewer. No idea if a Makerworld moderator is currently dealing with it. And is he already known or something? Either way, it’s interesting to watch, but unfortunately also a huge time sink. And he didn’t even steal a single model from Cypherous. I find that offensive! ^^
In the end, it’s best to just report things when you see them and put as much time as possible into your own models. I truly believe Makerworld will sort it out. I genuinely have faith in that. (◔◡◔)
Yeah, about 30 minutes ago I started having the “report successful” messages pop up. I think they might have some moderators in the US now because it’s almost 1am in China.
Gimpers mentioned it’s someone who’s had many accounts.
Why would they have humans looking at it at all? Platform owners have such a sweet deal. The current lax regulations allow them to only have to respond to individual reports, and even then, it’s up to the platform owner if they want to do one iota more of effort than “take down the referenced reported item”
Modern internet regulations and governance sucks. I 'member when the FBI used to kick doors down and physically disable servers that hosted Disney and NFL content on them.
Ideally, users wouldn’t need to report ALL the models on account that solely deals in stolen models and would ban the account for repeat offence, sorta like 3-strike setup in some jurisdiction where petty crime could get one in for life if the rap sheet was extensive enough
Well they actually accepted my blanket report this time and wiped the whole account. I also had messaged some of the people who created the models, so if they reported them too maybe it was the totality of the circumstances?
Seems like one of those piracy cases where an MD5 hash check wouldn’t catch it due to slight modifications (2 plates > 1 Plate) before reuploading.
