Content Moderation Case Studies: Can Baby Yoda GIFs Defeat The DMCA Force? (2019)

Content Moderation Case Studies: Can Baby Yoda GIFs Defeat The DMCA Force? (2019)

3 years ago
Anonymous $hYN7Hy7o7J

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210317/15282846439/content-moderation-case-studies-can-baby-yoda-gifs-defeat-dmca-force-2019.shtml

Summary: In the fall of 2019, Disney launched its Disney+ streaming service to instant acclaim. While it offered up access to the extensive Disney catalog (including all of its Marvel, Star Wars, and 21st Century Fox archives), the first big new hit for the service was a TV series set in the Star Wars universe called The Mandalorian, which featured a character regularly referred to as “Baby Yoda.”

Baby Yoda was a clear hit online, and people quickly made animated gif images of the character, helping spread more interest in The Mandalorian and the Disney+ service. However, soon after Vulture Magazine put up a story that was all just Baby Yoda GIFs, it was discovered that Giphy, a company that has built a repository of GIFs, had taken all of the Baby Yoda GIFs down. This caused many to complain, blaming Disney, highlighting that such GIFs were clearly fair use.