Earlier today Disney+ posted the following Tweets on Twitter:
By sharing your message with us using #MayThe4th, you agree to our use of the message and your account name in all media and our terms of use here: https://t.co/G0AyToufQ5
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) April 27, 2020
Now, I think what they meant was that if you share your stories or images using the hashtag, they can use them in media. Which in itself is crappy, but normal for Disney to do. Other companies also do it.
However, other companies aren’t dealing with massive franchise backlash. It just came across as yet another way Disney was trying leverage the Star Wars franchise and fans just went to town.
Which then led Disney to adjusting the working in an update tweet hours later, but, Disney had already gotten the hashtag trending, but for the wrong reasons.
The above legal language applies ONLY to replies to this tweet using #MayThe4th and mentioning @DisneyPlus. These replies may appear in something special on May the 4th!
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) April 27, 2020
But the damage was already done. One could even say it will be “a day long remembered.”
Take a look at some of the responses:
The comments go on and on.
According to an analysis by Twitter user @cfiesler, Disney cannot “own” a hashtag, and she suspects that Disney Plus may not have had an actual lawyer look at that tweet before it was posted….
So @disneyplus posted this ridiculous tweet that suggests they can bind you to a TOS b/c of a HASHTAG… and OF COURSE their copyright license is insanely rights-grabby. So gosh I hope everyone who "shares with them" via #MayThe4th has seen this official legal notice by tweet. pic.twitter.com/3lPVLLPKkJ
— Casey Fiesler, PhD, JD, geekD (@cfiesler) April 27, 2020
… as Disney Plus wound up backpedaling a few hours later.
The above legal language applies ONLY to replies to this tweet using #MayThe4th and mentioning @DisneyPlus. These replies may appear in something special on May the 4th!
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) April 27, 2020
A lot of our viewers tagged us in or messaged us about what we thought.
I really don’t think this went the way Disney intended it to go even though many people did share their favorite memories using the hashtag. Maybe they will get picked to have their stories used in Star Wars marketing for free.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: Twitter, Twitter friends (thanks guys!)
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