Am I allowed to share screenshots on my Review-Site?

[SmellsevonBell]

Hey guys!!

I am running a Review-Blog for Manga and Webtoons and I don't know what to do. I live in Germany, but my content is English - so fair use doesn't really apply to me. For my Best-of-Lists and Reviews, I use screenshots from Webtoons, Tapas, Tappytoon or Kakao. I always credit the author and the publisher and link to the official website, but I am still afraid to get sued for copyright infringement. Neither Webtoon nor tapas is answering my E-Mails if it is ok to share Screenshots of the comics. Is there a Blog-owner on here that has a similar site and knows how to deal with this stuff the correct way? My bank account doesn't look that great, so if I am sued, it will be troublesome.
What would also interest me, is the creator's perspective: Would you guys be happy to see a screenshot of your comic somewhere, or would you be mad that you didn't get asked for permission?

Thanks for your time!!

[BlairFujin]

My take would be - ask the people whose work you're screenshoting for permission.

[afuji]

A review site seems like a fun idea! It's always good to get constructive criticism when you put things out there.
Personally it would be good to reach out to the artist if you can, to see what is off limits for the author or if they have anything personally they wanted added to the review (artist comment or other links etc).

Unless you're making intentional inflationary comments or posting spoilers or tapas paid content on the review site itself, I don't think you'd get sued. Check out copyright and review guideline sites for tips. Just googling and I found these:

Copyright Tips for Review Sites - Plagiarism Today

Quotation, Criticism & Review - Copyright

[Crusoe]

If it isn't allowed, you'll usually get a cease and desist letter first from what I've heard. Meaning you get a chance to take it down first before any other legal actions are taken. It's unlikely any other actions will be taken especially if it's s small site that doesn't make any money of off the content.

If you're scared to use screenshots there's usually promotional material available for bigger series which you may use.

[SmellsevonBell]

The problem is, that some of these artists don't even have Twitter or Instagram. And the Webtoon artists don't answer me as well^^

[SmellsevonBell]

That's reassuring. Although I do want to monetize the side with ads in the future. There won't be a lot of profit, but still....

[Kaydreamer]

Screenshots for the purpose of review would be covered under 'transformative use' in almost every country, regardless of language spoken, or the origin country of the works. You really have nothing to worry about.

[thedude3445]

Using short screencaps for reviews is Fair Use and you will have no issue with this. You are 100% OK and don't even need to ask permission (though that's always nice to do).