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Better Sharing, Brighter Future

“Twenty Years of Creative Commons (in Sixty Seconds)” by Ryan Junell and Glenn Otis Brown for Creative Commons is licensed via CC BY 4.0 and includes adaptations of the multiple open and public domain works. View full licensing and attribution information about all works included in the video on Flickr.

Creative Commons is an international nonprofit organization that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world's most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all.

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The nonprofit behind the licenses and tools the world uses to share

For over 20 years, Creative Commons has supported a global movement built on a belief in the power of open access to knowledge and creativity. From Wikipedia to the Smithsonian, organizations and individuals rely on our work to share billions of historic images, scientific articles, cultural artifacts, educational resources, music, and more!

“Farmer and his brother making music” by Russell Lee, here cropped, is marked with CC PDM 1.0.
“Flickr photowalk at the Creative Commons Global Summit 2019, Lisbon” by Sebastiaan ter Burg, here cropped, is licensed via CC BY 2.0.
“Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2” by NIAID, here cropped, is licensed via CC BY 2.0.
“Children kabuki theater in Nagahama (warrior Kumagai, 12 y.o.)” by lensonjapan, here cropped, is licensed via CC BY 2.0.

Latest News

CC Signals: What We’ve Been Working On
by Sarah Hinchliff Pearson Licenses & Tools

Distorted Forest Path by Lone Thomasky & Bits&Bäume, licensed with CC BY 4.0.

As we look back on 2025, it’s clear that the internet as we know it is changing. Information is being removed from the web or locked away. We are experiencing a crisis in the commons, driven in part by current AI development practices. New systems are emerging in response—from content monetization schemes and licensing agreements designed to protect large rightsholders, to the ongoing morass of lawsuits about how AI services are using content as data. We are in the midst of a major reconfiguration of how we share and reuse content on the web.
Where CC Stands on Pay-to-Crawl
by Creative Commons Policy, Sustaining the Commons
Integrating Choices in Open Standards: CC Signals and the RSL Standard
by Anna Tumadóttir Licenses & Tools, Sustaining the Commons
Global Call to Action: Open Heritage Statement Now Open for Signature
by Brigitte Vézina, Dee Harris Open Culture, Open Heritage
New Community Chat Platform: Moving from Slack to Zulip
by Jocelyn Miyara Community

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