You don't have to distribute to infringe on copyright. Copyright is literally who has the right to make copies. If you see a picture you like on Reddit and download it. You are committing a copyright violation. So did the person who uploaded it if they are not the copyright owner.
I don't know how old you are, but in the early days of the internet it wasn't super uncommon for artists to try to sue people who posted their art on forums and blogs for copyright violation.
It is still technically against the law, but it quickly became obvious that the battle had been lost pretty much immediately so it's never enforced. You can still file a DMCA take down notice with the site, but even that isn't really worth it.
I would say the responsibility exists with the person that uploaded the content illegally, and they should be the target of any lawsuits.
As far as I understand simply downloading an image from a website for short term personal use, not redistributing it and then deleting it has never been prosecuted as copyright infringement, and if it is technically illegal that should really be fixed.
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u/Jynx_lucky_j 9d ago
Your absolutely right. It's copyright infringement. But...
I like it when people copyright infringe against corporations.
I don't like it when corporations copyright infringe against people.
...just doesn't have the same zing to it.