Straight answer: use the platform's native repost or share button whenever it exists, because that preserves the original creator's name and link automatically, and only screenshot as a last resort. Always ask first if you can, tag the person in the post itself (not buried in a caption nobody reads), and understand that a credit line is a courtesy, not a licence, so it does not protect you if the person asks you to take it down.
The fastest right way to do it on each platform
People overcomplicate this. Every major platform now has a built-in repost tool, and the built-in tool is almost always better than screenshotting because it keeps the link back to the original creator alive. Here's what works, platform by platform.
Instagram Stories
If someone posts a Story and you want it on yours, tap the paper aeroplane share icon under it and choose "Add to your story." This only appears if the original person has left "Allow resharing to Stories" switched on in their settings, which most people never touch, so it works more often than not. Instagram then stamps their username on the top of the Story automatically, in a sticker you cannot delete without also deleting the credit. If the share icon does not appear, that person has switched sharing off, and screenshotting round it is exactly the kind of thing that gets accounts reported.
LinkedIn gives you two buttons: "Repost" and "Repost with your thoughts." Both keep the original author's name, photo and post attached at the top, which is the whole point. I always use "Repost with your thoughts" because a blank repost with nothing added looks lazy and gets buried by the algorithm within hours. Add two or three sentences on why the post mattered to you before the repost loads. If you want the mechanics of why this matters for reach, I've broken it down in 25 LinkedIn algorithm hacks that work in 2026, but the short version is that native reposts get treated far better by the feed than a copy-pasted screenshot with a credit line typed underneath.
X (Twitter)
Quote tweet, don't screenshot. A plain retweet works fine if you have nothing to add, but a quote tweet with your own comment on top does two jobs at once: it credits the person automatically through the embedded original, and it gives your own followers a reason to stop scrolling. Screenshotting someone's tweet and pasting it as an image strips out the link entirely, which means the original poster gets zero traffic from your repost even if you type their handle underneath.
TikTok
Use Duet or Stitch if you're adding your own reaction, or the repost arrow (the loop icon) if you just want it to sit on your profile as-is. The repost button keeps the original creator's name on the video permanently. Downloading someone's TikTok and re-uploading it as your own clip, even with "credit: @username" typed in your caption, still counts as reposting without permission under TikTok's own community guidelines, and it can get the reupload removed regardless of what you wrote underneath it.
The share button does exactly what it should: it keeps the post as the original poster's content, sitting inside your feed with their name on it, not yours. There's no good reason to copy someone's Facebook post text into a new post of your own when the share button exists and takes two seconds.
What happened when I got reposted badly
In March 2026 someone lifted a full paragraph out of my email newsletter, word for word, and pasted it into a LinkedIn post. At the very bottom, in grey text about half the size of the rest of the post, sat the words "credit: Lilach B." No link. No tag. No mention that it had come from a newsletter at all, so anyone reading it assumed the whole post was original thinking.
That's the bit most guides on this topic skip over: technically there was a credit. Practically, it did nothing. Nobody clicked through to me, nobody knew where to find the newsletter, and the person who wrote it got a post with 400 reactions off my words while I got a first name and an initial. A credit that doesn't include a link, a tag, or a way for someone to find the original source isn't credit, it's decoration.
I messaged them directly rather than making a fuss publicly. I said something close to: "Hey, love that you found that useful, mind adding a link back to the newsletter so people can find it too?" They fixed it within the hour and were mortified. Nine times out of ten, that's how these things go when you raise it privately and calmly instead of screenshotting it for a call-out post.
Ask first, even when you technically don't have to
On most platforms, a public post is fair game to share through the native repost tool. But if you're taking someone's story, rewriting it in your own words, or pulling it into a different format (turning their Instagram Story into a LinkedIn carousel, say, or their tweet into a blog paragraph), that's not a repost anymore, that's a derivative, and it deserves a message first. Something like:
- "Loved this, can I share it on my LinkedIn with a link back to you?"
- "Can I turn this into a carousel for my page, full credit and tag, obviously?"
- "Mind if I quote a line from this in a blog post, with a link to your original?"
In my own experience running this by clients before we repurpose anything of theirs, the answer is yes almost every time, and it usually arrives within the hour. People are flattered to be asked. The handful who say no tend to have a good reason, usually that they're planning to publish something bigger themselves and don't want it pre-empted, which is fair enough and worth respecting.
The bit nobody wants to admit: credit is not permission
This is where most advice on this topic goes soft, because it's an uncomfortable truth for anyone who reposts a lot of content. Adding someone's name to a post does not give you a licence to use their work. Copyright sits with the creator the moment they hit publish, whether it's a photo, a written story, a video or a caption. Crediting them is good manners, and it's what platforms expect of you, but it is not a legal shield if that person decides they don't want their work reposted at all, tag or no tag.
I've seen people argue "but I credited them" as a defence after a creator asked them to take a repost down, as though the credit itself bought them the right to keep it up. It doesn't. If someone asks you to remove something you've reposted, even with full and correct credit, the polite and correct move is to take it down, not to point at the tag as proof you did nothing wrong. Being credited is what a creator is entitled to when they've said yes. It's not a trade for their consent.
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What to write in the credit itself
Vague credit is nearly as bad as none. "Credit to owner" or "not mine" tells your audience nothing and does nothing for the original creator. A credit line that works has three parts:
- The person's name or handle, tagged so it's clickable, not typed as plain text
- Where it originally appeared (which post, which platform, roughly when)
- Why you're sharing it (what made you stop and repost this one)
Something like: "Original story from @janedoe, posted on Instagram last week. Sharing because it's the clearest explanation of freelance pricing I've read all year." That's four seconds longer to type than "credit: Jane" and it does ten times the work, both for Jane and for your own credibility with the people reading your feed.
If someone reposts your story without asking you first
This happens to almost everyone with any following at all, and how you handle it says more about you than it does about them. My order of operations:
- Screenshot the repost before messaging anyone, in case it disappears the moment you raise it
- Message the person directly and calmly, asking for a tag, a link, or removal, whichever matters most to you
- Give them 24 to 48 hours to sort it before reporting anything to the platform
- Only report through the platform's copyright or content-theft tools if they ignore you or refuse
I've found this gets resolved without drama roughly nine times out of ten. The people who go straight to a public call-out post usually get a defensive response and an audience that's more interested in the drama than the original point, which is rarely the outcome you wanted.
If you run a business account and want a cleaner system for this across a whole team (who's allowed to repost what, how credit gets added, who checks it before it goes out), that's exactly the kind of process an AI implementation coach can help you build once, rather than firefighting it post by post.
Frequently asked questions
Is it illegal to repost someone's story without asking?
Not always illegal, but it depends what you're doing with it. Using a platform's native share or repost button on public content is generally within the platform's own terms. Copying someone's photo, video or written words and reposting them as your own, without a native share tool and without permission, can be copyright infringement, and adding a credit line doesn't remove that risk.
Does tagging someone count as asking for permission?
No. A tag is credit after the fact, not consent beforehand. Plenty of creators are fine with being tagged and shared without being asked first, but some aren't, and the only way to know is to ask, especially before you rewrite or repackage their work into a different format.
What's the difference between a repost and a share, on LinkedIn especially?
A share (or repost) uses the platform's own button and keeps the original creator's name, photo and post fully intact and clickable. A copy-paste is you retyping or screenshotting their words into a brand new post under your own name, which strips the original creator of both credit and reach even if you type their name somewhere in the caption.
Someone reposted my content without credit, what should I do first?
Screenshot it, then message them directly and politely asking for a tag, a link, or removal. Most people fix it within a day once you point it out. Save public call-outs and platform reports for the cases where a private message gets ignored.
Related reading: How Do You Repost Someone Else's Reel to Your Instagram (Without Getting Flagged) and The Easiest Way to Download Someone Else's Instagram Story in 2026.
