Leo's lawyer—a pro-bono activist—argued: "A watermark is not authorship. The hands in the video are. Mr. Keller's tool merely allows creators to exercise their moral right to preservation."

Process.

Then TikTok changed their encryption.

She hadn't saved it.

The first result:

: Only download and repost content if you have permission or are using your own videos. Reposting others' work without credit can lead to copyright strikes.

She held her breath.

She posted the clean version to Instagram Reels. It got 400,000 views. Her TikTok, meanwhile, had 12.

From a mother in Ohio: "My son died last week. His last video was a silly lip-sync. TikTok took it down for 'community guidelines.' But your tool saved a copy on his phone. Thank you."

From users: "You stole my dance. It got 20 million views, but someone re-uploaded my Snaptik download to Instagram. Now they have the credit."

"It's not fair," a follower DM'd her. "That's your work. Why does TikTok own the right to your watermark?"

Leo still pays his electric bill. He still gets hate mail. He still gets thank-you notes.