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RE: Photo Plagiarism - How To Avoid It - Original Photography
If you do take it from a site like pixabay and site the source though, it's at least defensible. Granted, not very. You'd likely settle out of court.
Although it is possible that steemit might become a regular target for litigation in the future, due to it's very public payment system.
The problem with Pixabay, is that the people using the images are not likely professionals, so don't understand that it is the USER that is liable for incorrect usage. No one will be lenient with you because you thought that Pixabay had it covered. If you are a blogger, you are supposed to understand the rules! You should never ever use an image with people in it from Pixabay. You have no access to model releases, and you have no idea whether the people ever signed any.
There are also some property images you may not use because you do not have the proper property releases, and the people uploading them had no idea that there were restrictions. Disney is a prime example. Search Getty Images for Disney. Their images are controlled for editorial use only. Search Pixabay. Those images can be downloaded for any use whatsoever - even commercial! Try getting that one by Disney! Those photographers have no idea about the rules of stock photography usage! They take photos and upload them with no knowledge of the business.
I think that Steemit may be in for a rough ride at some time in the future. I had two of my own images being used illegally on here, but I let them off with a slap on the wrist. Perhaps I should have been tougher. High profile photographers will not hesitate to sue! Some are even making more money going after infringers than creating new content these days!
Bloggers are expected to know...but they don't. I'm not sure it's really fair, but it's how the world works. You should try making another blog post that's more along the lines of things you need to know about using images, because clearly you know better than many, and realistically not everyone is going to get into photography.