"This isn't about copyright. It's more about a contributor acknowledging that they didn't create the image..."
True, however content may still be protected by trademarks, publicity or privacy rights, etc, so there are potentially additional third party rights to consider. Pixabay state that they have measures in place to try and check that content adheres to their policies, but issue the following disclaimer in the Uploading Images section of their ToS:
"You accept that even though we do our best to prevent it from happening, Pixabay cannot be held responsible for the misuse or abuse of any Content."
Pixabay ToS for uploading also states:
"You are solely responsible for the Content you upload. You warrant that you own all proprietary rights regarding the Content, and you are obliged to obtain a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, and royalty-free Model and/or Property Release, and/or any other permission necessary concerning the use of this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law."
In Brief
Pixabay state they have measures in place to attempt to mitigate risk or possibility of inappropriate material being present in their system but clearly state that the onus is on the submitter of the content and that Pixabay cannot be held responsible for noncompliance with their policy. In essence, Pixabay ToS & policy are their last line of defense against misuse.
steemit also place the onus on the submitter to determine, verify, and where required seek permission for the use of the original author or rights holder of works they may use in their submissions, and to also attribute the original author of those works where appropriate. Again, a control mechanism enforced by ToS & policy.
Unfortunately there's not much stopping a steemian from uploading a random eye-catching find then potentially receiving reward and recognition from the act, except other steemians with ethics. But there needs to be an army of steemians doing this due to the volume of such activity and the time it takes to track down the original author/rights holder, by which time it may be too late as the harm has been done by 487 ^votes &/or resteems.
I've been on steemit only a few weeks but I very quickly became aware that while I was spending hours researching & creating my articles, others where receiving recognition and reward for submitting the works of others. This has discouraged me greatly from investing my time and efforts, even this reply has taken me a little over an hour to research, verify, and write.
Instead I've ended up spending more and more time & effort tracking down the original authors/rights holders of work I've been seeing submitted here, then posting these as a reply to the article. In fact, I just found another one only moments ago from a blatant recidivist: https://steemit.com/photography/@razaoo7/silent-pool-surrey
This same steemian is receiving awards too, IMO they should be stripped: http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=razaoo7
I'm offering my services. katharsisdrill suggested I approach the steemitabusechannel. Where do I sign up?
i hear ya, i report abused photography on daily base , but it is hard to see if they used the info or not sometimes a reported link stays visual untouched for days and you wonder did they do something with it or not ? and sometimes you see a green V and you know something happened with it. It is also needed to create awareness amongst the voters and try to get less votes on copied material @stresskiller is the one that reports most of the time :) replying on the wrong account again .
Check discord, I've been busy, real busy.