Kung Fu Fighting: Did the Broward Sheriff’s Office Just Admit to Instagram Copyright Theft — and a First Amendment Problem to Boot?

By Chaz Stevens
Editorial / Opinion

Sit down. Grab a snack. This one’s got everything: a viral dance video, a copyright loophole, a Supreme Court case, and — as always — General Counsel Terrence M. Lynch trying to explain his way out of a jam with the legal equivalent of a shrug emoji.

Let’s back up.

Months ago, the Broward Sheriff’s Office got caught with “Kung Fu Fighting” blasting behind a video on the Instagram account @bsosherifftony — that’s Sheriff Gregory Tony’s account, for those keeping score at home. I asked, under Chapter 119, where BSO got the rights to use a chart-topping commercial song on a government social media account. Mr. Lynch responded (case number R546505, be sure to catalog it) that the track came from “Instagram’s public use library” and was used “in accordance with Instagram’s terms of use for audio content.”

Here’s the PRR I sent to Lynch. Well worth the read / chuckle.

Cute. Almost believable. Except for one small, load-bearing fact that Mr. Lynch conveniently left on the cutting room floor: Instagram’s commercial music catalog — the one stocked with actual hits like “Kung Fu Fighting” — is only available to personal Instagram accounts. Business and professional accounts, the kind government agencies are supposed to run, get the royalty-free elevator music. No Carl Douglas for you.

So which is it, Terri? Is @bsosherifftony a scrappy personal account run by a guy just vibing on his lunch break? Or is it a Broward Sheriff’s Office asset — administered under a written Standard Operating Procedure titled, and I am not making this up, “Agency-Owned Social Media Accounts,” staffed by BSO employees, and answered on by BSO’s own General Counsel under a public records law that only applies to government records?

You can’t have it both ways. Either BSO’s flagship social account is a government instrument, in which case someone owes Carl Douglas’ estate a phone call, or it’s “personal,” in which case BSO needs to stop answering Chapter 119 requests about it like it’s the Sheriff’s official megaphone — because apparently it can’t be both.

I’ll let you sit with that. As my Nanny used to say, “this isn’t my first goat rodeo. Maybe my first goat f*ck, but not my goat rodeo. Also, lots of clowns over that way.” Broward County, take a bow.

But wait, there’s more — and this part actually matters

Buried under the theme-song farce is a real live constitutional issue. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lindke v. Freed, 601 U.S. 187 (2024), which set the modern test for when a public official’s social media page becomes “state action” — meaning the First Amendment applies, and blocking constituents or deleting their comments can get the government sued. The test: did the official have actual authority to speak for the government, and did he purport to use it?

Given that BSO has an SOP governing “Agency-Owned Social Media Accounts,” given that BSO staff run the login, and given that BSO’s own General Counsel treats the account as a government record subject to public disclosure — I’d say @bsosherifftony is looking awfully close to a Lindke problem. Which is why I’ve now filed a formal public records request demanding: who has admin access, whether it runs through Meta Business Suite, every user who’s been blocked or muted since January 2024, every comment deleted and the “criteria” used to delete it, any policy governing when a citizen gets the boot, every complaint from the public about it, and every internal BSO communication discussing the blocking.

Full disclosure, because transparency is kind of my whole thing: I’m the name plaintiff in Lindke-based litigation currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and this fall I’m teaching a CLE course on Lindke for the International Municipal Lawyers Association. So no, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck on this one. I offered Mr. Lynch a CLE coupon. He hasn’t RSVP’d.

A word about the boss

I also couldn’t help noting, in my letter, that the Sheriff himself — a man whose academic transcript reportedly features a 1.92 GPA — is fond of reminding people not to believe everything they read on social media. Sound advice, Sheriff. I’d add a corollary: don’t believe everyone you read who writes about what others write about on social media. Words to live by, apparently, at the highest levels of Broward County law enforcement.

What happens next

BSO now has to produce the records or certify, in writing, that they don’t exist — and under Florida law, a “we don’t have it” is itself a legally binding answer, not an escape hatch. I’ve asked them to preserve everything: audit logs, account settings history, the works. If they drag their feet on the fee estimate, they’d better keep it under $17.23, because I’m not authorizing a dime more without it in writing.

Stay tuned, Broward. This goat rodeo’s just getting started.

Chaz Stevens is a Deerfield Beach resident, public records gadfly, and the founder of REVOLT Training. He is a member of the ABA, APA, NASW, and NFHI, and swears none of that makes this article any less true.