Streisand effect

{{bronze}}{{internet}}{{psychology}}
{{cquote|That Spanish man is Mario Costeja Gonzalez. This is his photo, which was on an article from the ''[[New York Times]]'' about his crusade to remove links mentioning his debts from 1998. In doing so, he is now world famous for being that Spanish guy with debts from 1998. The only thing I know about him is the only thing he didn't want me to know.|||[[John Oliver]]<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-ERajkMXw0 Right To Be Forgotten]</ref>}}
The '''Streisand effect''' is an [[Internet]]-coined name (although the effect predates the popular usage of the Internet) for a phenomenon whereby an attempt to [[censor]] or gag a report leads to [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForbiddenFruit great interest] in the story or work that nobody would have noticed had they not attempted to ban or censor it in the first place.

Some people have proposed that it be called '''Streisand's [[Internet Law|Law]]''' on account of how inevitable the effect is.

==Origin==
[[File:Streisand_Estate.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Is this the picture that touched you, Babs?]]
The term was coined in 2005 by Mike Masnick, founder of the Techdirt website<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28562156 BBC Magazine &mdash; The perils of the Streisand effect]</ref> after an incident that started in February, 2003, when Barbra Streisand's [[lawyer]]s sent a cease-and-desist letter to the {{wpl|California Coastal Records Project}} regarding the inclusion of a photo<ref>Image number [http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=3850&mode=sequential&flags=0 3850 on their website.] It is now more widely available and seen than would be expected if the photographer ''wasn't'' sued and the California Coastal Records Project was left on its own.</ref> of her Malibu beach house on its website. When the website operators rejected that letter and a followup letter, Babs sued.<ref>''Streisand v. Adelman'' (2003), case number SC 077 257</ref> On 3 December 2003, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a statement that they were dismissing the suit.

The previously not-famous CCRP website includes more than 12,000 overlapping aerial photos of the entire [[California]] coastline (with the exception of the area around Vandenberg Air Force Base), plus a collection of about 55,000 additional photos that currently date back to 1972. Few people would have seen, or cared about, this one photo of Barbara Streisand's house had she not sued. However, as a result of the trial and its notoriety, this photo has spread across the internet and shows up on any article about the Streisand effect.

==Blogs and injunctions==
In the modern world of blogs, there are no shortages of such examples, as blogs have become a main means whereby people speak out, and often have a network of friends or collaborators just waiting to get pissed off &mdash; if one is censored, it will quickly be picked up by another. Censorship is obviously seen as an assault on [[free speech]], and it is usually this aspect that attracts the attention, rather than the ''nature of the story itself'' — indeed, many of the stories are downright boring compared to the ensuing shitstorm about censorship.

So-called "{{wpl|gag order||s}}" and "super injunctions"<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11764242 BBC News — Take That star Howard Donald's super-injunction lifted]</ref> are designed by courts to limit the effect. These orders prevent the press not just from reporting an incident, but also from reporting or hinting that they've been prevented from reporting it! These are often used in [[privacy]] or libel battles, but if overturned or lifted, the Streisand effect is free to come out in full force. Indeed, it often comes out in ''fuller'' force thanks to the nature of the super-injunction's limits on free speech. Applying for, and failing to achieve, a super-injunction in court often leads to greater publicity for a scandal.

==Examples==

===In publishing===
Pick any banned book and there's a good chance the Streisand effect came into play at some point.<ref>See ''Time'''s [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1842832,00.html Top 10 Censored Books] for some prime examples.</ref> Indeed, some bookstores and libraries make a point of displaying and promoting banned books during "Banned Books Week," and attempts at suppressing some books turned them into best-sellers. Notable examples include [[Salman Rushdie]]'s ''[[Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'' and former [[MI5]] officer Peter Wright's {{wpl|Spycatcher|''Spycatcher''|.}}

[[Meta]] tried to silence their former high-level employee Sarah Wynn-Williams's tell-all book, ''Careless People'',<ref>''Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism'' by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) Flatiron Books. ISBN 1250391237.</ref> based on a non-disclosure agreement. While the agreement may have prevented Wynn-Williams from publicizing the book, the book became a bestseller nonetheless.<ref>[https://www.vulture.com/article/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams-facebook-gag-order.html The Gag Order That Birthed a Best-seller Behind the making of Careless People, the Facebook tell-all its publisher insists is "not a book of news."] by Madeline Leung Coleman (March 22, 2025) ''New York Vulture''.</ref>

===In popular culture===
* Every year, [[PETA]] submits an over-the-top TV [[advertisement]] intended to run during the [[Fun:American football|Super Bowl]], usually with highly sexually-suggestive content. Every year, the network refuses to run the ad, making it an instant hit as people flock to view it on the web just to see what the fuss is all about. This illustrates the ways in which pressure groups and [[fringe]] groups might understand the Streisand effect and manipulate it to ''their'' advantage. This may not always be to a good end; for example, the controversy over the once-obscure ''[[The Turner Diaries]]'' eventually led to its being reprinted by a mainstream publisher and sold in major bookstores for several years in the 1990s.

*The centerfold of the May 1967 issue of Paul Krassner's ''The Realist'' consisted of ''The Disneyland Memorial Orgy'' poster, which depicted virtually the whole [[copyright]]ed [[Disney]] pantheon engaged in [[sex]] or [[drug]] acts. According to Krassner, "the Disney corporation considered a lawsuit but realized that ''The Realist'' had no real assets, and besides, why bother causing themselves any further public embarrassment?"<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/the-disneyland-memorial-o_b_5859.html The Disneyland Memorial Orgy] by Paul Krassner (05/25/2011 11:45 am ET) ''Huffington Post''.</ref>

* An unusual case of this is {{wpl|Escape from Tomorrow|''Escape from Tomorrow''|,}} a movie set in Walt Disney World that is darkly satirical of Disney's culture and was filmed on location without permission. Disney's track record of aggressive copyright and trademark litigation as a method of silencing criticism gave the movie a very high profile after its Sundance premiere. Disney ultimately chose not to press charges, perhaps understanding that they were unlikely to win and attempting to block it from distribution would only add digits to the viewer and revenue counts.<ref>{{wpa|Escape from Tomorrow#Legal issues}}</ref> In an interesting twist, Disney even acknowledged the film's existence in their official literature.<ref>[https://d23.com/a-to-z/escape-from-tomorrow-film/ Escape from Tomorrow (film)]. ''D23''. Retrieved 7 September 2022</ref>

* Famously, in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series, an important plot point of ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'': when an issue of the Quibbler with an interview with the main character (about the hushed-up return of antagonist Voldemort) is banned by Dolores Umbridge (a Ministry-appointed teacher/inspector), Hermione Granger is ecstatic, saying: "Don't you see? There was no better way of ensuring that everyone would read it!".

===In religion===
* The first Internet example was the [[Church of Scientology]]'s attempts to suppress the {{wpl|Fishman Affidavit}} (which contained Church-copyrighted versions of Operating Thetan levels I-VII) in late 1995, which promptly resulted in hundreds of copies going up around the world.<ref>[http://www.xenu-directory.net/critics/fishman1.html Fishman affidavit]</ref>

===On the Internet===
[[File:Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (Bomb).png|thumb|250px|right|Both the phone and the video's views exploded to astronomical proportions.]]
* The [[YouTube]] video "YouTube vs The Users" by [[vlogger]] [[Thunderf00t]] was often promptly taken down and the accounts hosting it were suspended by the site, often without warning. As a result, the video was mirrored in dozens of accounts, some of them [[sockpuppet]] accounts, and hosted elsewhere where YouTube had no power. The video has now been viewed millions of times rather than the mere few thousand views that it would have obtained if left on Thunderf00t's channel.<ref>[http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/16897 Rational Responders]</ref><ref>[http://forums.whyweprotest.net/186-youtube-vimeo-problems/thunderf00t-youtube-vs-users-39962/ Why We Protest &mdash; Youtube vs The Users]</ref>

* In a slight twist to the Streisand Effect (i.e., actually preventing it), the [[Twitter]]-mirroring website Tweleted (now defunct) stated that it can't and ''won't'' make exceptions and filter out individuals: 
{{quotebox|I can't add an exception without creating an 'exception list' … which would be visible to any user with mild amounts of technical experience, and instantly make your own history much, much more interesting to them. I can also guarantee that if I did censor the results, someone would, within hours, set up an 'uncensored' version of Tweleted explicitly designed to search &mdash; and advertise &mdash; those users on the exception list.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20100103122846/http://tweleted.com/ Tweleted] (archived from January 3, 2010).</ref>}}

* A far more morbid example was the 1976 album ''Virgin Killer'' by the German rock band {{wpl|Scorpions (band)|Scorpions|,}} whose original cover art depicted a naked pre-pubescent girl with her genitalia censored out by a faux-glass shatter graphic. This naturally did not sit well due to [[Child sexual abuse|child pornography]] concerns, so an alternate cover art with a photo of the band was used instead. The controversy resurfaced in 2008 when a [[Wikipedia]] user uploaded the cover art in question, prompting the {{wpl|Internet Watch Foundation}} to block the ''Virgin Killer'' article as the organisation deemed the file to be illegal. Both the IWF and Wikipedia were criticised over its handing of the matter<ref>[https://www.theregister.com/2008/12/09/iwf_wikipedia_ban/ Why the IWF was right to ban a Wikipedia page]</ref> (a similar controversy over the Wikimedia Foundation's hosting of questionable content depicting minors was raised at some point only for Jimmy Wales to have the risque media purged), and the ''Virgin Killer'' row only served to pique the curiosity of those intrigued by what was going on rather than suppress that particular piece of kiddie porn.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/opinion/26iht-edmorozov.1.18937733.html Opinion: Living with the Streisand Effect - The New York Times]</ref> The IWF relented shortly after, after realising that the album cover, while indeed obscene, was used more for the sake of scholarly discussion and commentary than to sate the craving of many a depraved paedophile.<ref>[https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/12/iwf-backs-off-of-scorpions-wikipedia-block-after-criticism/ IWF backs off of Scorpions Wikipedia block after criticism]</ref>

* In 2009, {{wpl|Texas Instruments}} sent DMCA notices to hackers who factorized the 512-bit RSA cryptographic keys needed to write custom firmware to TI devices. The hackers initially complied without consulting a lawyer, and TI sent further notices to websites who mirrored the keys, including United-TI (a fan forum for hacking TI calculators), [[Reddit]], and [[Wikipedia]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111125220545/http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/DMCA_Texas_Instruments "DMCA Texas Instruments"]. 2009-09-25. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved 2014-02-03.</ref> In response, Dan Goodin from ''The Register'' alerted the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]], who came to the hackers' aid and offered to provide legal services to them ''pro bono''. TI eventually gave up on their hunting spree, apparently realising that it only brought further attention to the hackers' cause.<ref>[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/texas-instruments-stop-digging-holes Hey, Texas Instruments -- Stop Digging Holes]</ref>

* In December 2013, a [[YouTube]] channel by the name of "ghostlyrich" uploaded a video about his Samsung Galaxy S4 phone catching fire. Three days after this video's release, Samsung sent him a letter asking him to remove the video and never upload any video relating to Samsung again. The video's views shot up instantaneously from a few thousand to nearly a million.<ref>http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/12/11/S4-catches-fire-Samsung-tries-to-silence-report/5041386799076/</ref>

* Similarly in October 2016, YouTuber Modded Games (now known as Mafia Game Videos) uploaded a video of a ''[[Grand Theft Auto|Grand Theft Auto V]]'' mod replacing the game's sticky bomb weapon with a 3D model of a {{wpl|Samsung Galaxy Note 7}} as a satirical nod to the phone's exploding battery issues.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GhODn4FRoE GTA 5 MOD - Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (Bomb)]. Mafia Game Videos. Retrieved on 7 September 2022</ref> Samsung took umbrage and issued a [[DMCA]] takedown notice to the uploader, but not without generating controversy, as the takedown notice was seen as a draconian misuse of the law, and only served to bring further attention to the mod; the video was reinstated shortly after.<ref>Martindale, Jon. [https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/gtav-note7-mod-restored/ "It's back! YouTube video showing Note 7 blowing up cars in 'GTA V' is restored."] 20 October 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2022</ref> And although Samsung sought legal action against people uploading gameplay videos of the Note 7 mod, it has not targeted websites hosting the mod itself, strangely enough.

* In 2023, the team behind the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin announced that they will be releasing said emulator on the Steam platform, likely spurred from the popularity of the Steam Deck and its use as a portable game console. [[Nintendo]] objected and pre-emptively requested Valve to halt its distribution from Steam, playing the [[persecution complex|victim card]] and vilifying emulators as "illegal" conduits for [[piracy]] when pressed for details as to why they filed a cease-and-desist,<ref>[https://gonintendo.com/contents/20931-nintendo-explains-their-dolphin-emulator-dmca-says-the-project-stifles-innovation Nintendo explains their Dolphin emulator DMCA, says the project 'stifles innovation']</ref> despite unofficial emulation having already been deemed legal per ''Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Bleem, LLC''.<ref>''[https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_case?case=11837224078052556056&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr Sony Computer Entertainment America v. Bleem]'', vol. 214, February 14, 2000, p. 1022, retrieved November 3, 2021</ref> As a result of this, Google searches for Dolphin have surged either out of curiosity or from those who want to hoard the latest emulator release in case the Big N goes after the emulator itself.<ref>[https://somegadgetguy.com/2023/05/27/an-open-letter-to-nintendo-about-emulators-youre-doing-it-wrong/ An open letter to Nintendo about Emulators: You’re doing it wrong… ]</ref>

* And as if that wasn't enough, in 2024 Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the Switch emulator Yuzu, alleging that the program facilitated piracy.{{efn|Though to be fair, Yuzu's developers openly boasted about how they were able to boot several high-profile first-party titles and made a lot of profit from the sale of paywalled builds.}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seedhouse |first=Alex |date=February 27, 2024 |title=Nintendo Sues Creators Behind Yuzu Switch Emulator |url=https://www.nintendo-insider.com/nintendo-sues-creators-behind-yuzu-switch-emulator/ |access-date=February 27, 2024 |website=Nintendo Insider}}</ref> However, because the Yuzu code is licensed under the GPL, countless forks sprung up such as Suyu, and while Nintendo can and will play whack-a-mole against them, the emulator's licensing led to a hydra-esque situation, though development of said forks is hampered by both Nintendo's legal aggression and the lack of experienced reverse engineers and programmers skilled with systems emulation.

* In 2024 the {{wpl|Philippine National Police}} (PNP) released censored mugshots of former pastor and alleged sex offender [[Apollo Quiboloy]] online, though said mugshots provoked confusion and criticism from netizens as they felt that censoring a public figure whom practically everyone in the country knows of is pointless and could lead to wild speculation i.e. [[conspiracy theories]] disputing the veracity of Quiboloy's arrest. While the PNP defended their actions as in line with the directives issued by the country's [[human rights]] board, interior secretary {{wpl|Benhur Abalos}} released uncensored versions of the mugshots to assauge public concerns,<ref name="clearmug">{{Cite news |date=2024-09-10 |title=DILG releases clear mugshots of Quiboloy, co-accused |url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/920005/dilg-releases-clear-mugshots-of-quiboloy-co-accused/story/ |access-date=2024-09-11 |work=GMA News |language=en}}</ref> rendering the CHR's mandate to "protect the dignity of the accused" at least somewhat questionable and counter-productive, i.e. it served more to humiliate the accused even further than to shield them from undue judgement.

===In politics===
[[File:The_Interview_(2014)_poster.jpeg|165px|thumb|right|Poster of the movie "The Interview" by Seth Rogen and James Franco.]]
* A brief injunction against [[UK]] newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]'' regarding a fairly boring story about an MP raised the profile of the story across the Internet, with freedom of speech objections swamping most of [[Twitter]]. [[Guido Fawkes]] and ''The Spectator'' also reported the story, giving it far more prominence than it would have achieved if left alone.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8304908.stm BBC News &mdmash; When is a secret not a secret?]</ref>

* {{wpl|The Interview (2014 film)|''The Interview''|,}} a 2014 Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy, criticized and ridiculed the [[North Korean]] "[[dictator|Dear Leader]]" [[Kim Jong Un]] and imagined his {{wpl|assassination||.}}<ref group=note>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxn6aFylZgA A very, ''very'' over-the-top assassination] that is [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RefugeInAudacity a fairly blatant attempt] at [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrossesTheLineTwice "making gruesome things funny by making them ''too'' gruesome to take seriously"].</ref> The [[North Korean]]s tried to censor it, threatening [[terrorism]] against venues screening the movie and (possibly) orchestrating a large-scale hack of distributor Sony Pictures' servers (allegedly; it's complicated<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-the-fbi-get-it-wrong-on-north-korea/ "Did the FBI get it wrong on North Korea?"] ''CBS News'', 23 December 2014 (recovered 1 August 2015).</ref>), which led Sony to cancel its release after a number of major theater chains balked at showing it. Even though the film was getting mixed reviews beforehand, North Korea's reaction made ''The Interview'' into a ''cause celebre'' for anti-censorship activists. A limited release of ''The Interview'' online and in select theaters became an immediate, very profitable smash hit.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30620926 The Interview makes $15m in online release]</ref>

*Jan Böhmermann, a German satirist, published a music video, {{wpl|Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan||,}} mocking [[Turkey|Turkish]] President [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] and his human rights record. This led to the Turkish government throwing a fuss, summoning the German ambassador, and calling for the criminal prosecution of Böhmermann using an outdated German law protecting monarchs from criticism, which the German government initially cowered to. This only led to greater awareness of Böhmermann's video, and the case was eventually scrapped, and the {{wpl|Lèse-majesté}} law was abolished.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37554167 Germany drops Turkey President Erdogan insult case], BBC, 4 October 2016</ref>

*Hasan Minhaj, a comedian who runs the show ''Patriot Act'', ran an episode on [[Saudi Arabia]] in which the episode criticized the Saudi Arabian regime and the [[USA]]'s lack of will to do anything about the killing of {{wpl|Jamal Khashoggi||.}} Saudi Arabia then tried to have it banned, but this caused ''Patriot Act'' to become much more popular.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/03/netflix-row-hasan-minhaj-pokes-fun-at-removal-of-show-criticising-saudi-arabia/ ''Netflix Row: Hasan Minhaj pokes fun at removal of show criticizing Saudi Arabia'']</ref>

*Li Wenliang, a [[China|Chinese]] doctor on the frontline of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] when it initially erupted in Wuhan, China, sent a message in a private chat with fellow doctors about cases he had seen, comparing it to {{wpl|SARS||,}} another deadly outbreak which broke out in China in 2003. The [[Secret police|government-controlled police]], who [[Nothing to hide|spy on the app that the doctor used, WeChat]],<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48552907 WeChat and the Surveillance State], Stephen McDonell, BBC News, 7 June 2019</ref> detained and censured him, forcing him to sign a paper apologising for his 'illegal behaviour'.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight], New York Times, 1 February 2020</ref> Later, after the disease had reached a death toll in the hundreds,<ref>[https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE]</ref> not only was Li vindicated and the government humiliated, but when he died after contracting the [[virus]] from his selfless work treating victims, he became an unintentional [[martyr]], a symbol of the government's failure to deal with the virus and the country's [[Authoritarianism|oppressive restrictions on personal freedoms]], causing rage and dissent across the nation.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/coronavirus-chinese-rage-death-whistleblower-doctor-li-wenliang 'Hero who told the truth': Chinese rage over coronavirus death of whistleblower doctor], the Guardian, 7 February 2020</ref> [[Irony|Oops!]]

*In 2023, the Indian government banned {{wpl|India: The Modi Question||,}} a documentary critical of [[India]]n Prime Minister [[Narendra Modi]] and his handling of the {{wpl|2002 Gujarat riots||,}} through emergency laws, and pressured social media websites to remove clips of the documentary. This only led Modi critics inside India to host private screenings.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/india-emergency-laws-to-ban-bbc-narendra-modi-documentary India invokes emergency laws to ban BBC Modi documentary], the Guardian, 23 January 2023</ref>

===In business===
* In October 2009, Ralph Lauren issued a [[DMCA]] complaint against the blog Photoshop Disasters for criticising and reposting some of their advertising.<ref>[https://archive.is/jsJUQ How To Turn A Photoshop Disaster Into A Photoshop Catastrophe]. Archived from the original at photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com.</ref> Although the company later apologised for the shoddy [[Photoshop]]ping, they went and did the exact same thing again a few weeks later.<ref>[https://archive.is/luIcH The Hits Keep Coming]. Archived from the original at photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com.</ref>

* Google's Street View project has often caused controversy amongst privacy campaigners. But requests to blur and black-out some places in [[Germany]] backfired when they were targeted for vandalism. Evidently they didn't realise that deliberately blurred or blacked images draw more attention than just plain, uninteresting houses.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11827862 BBC News &mdash; German vandals target Street View opt-out homes]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Backfire effect]]
*[[Chilling effect]], when censorship works as intended
*[[Encyclopedia Dramatica]]
*[[Private Eye]]
*[[Reverse psychology]]
*[[Wikileaks]]

==External links==
*The California Coastal Records Project's [http://www.californiacoastline.org/streisand/lawsuit.html article on the lawsuit.]
*From the 2007 ''North Dakota Law Review'': [http://valhalla.law.und.nodak.edu/LawReview/issues/web_assets/pdf/83/83-2/83NDLR547.pdf "Online Satellite and Aerial Images: Issues and Analysis" (pp. 457-78)] — "Invasion of Privacy" begins on page 561. The first mention of Babs' suit occurs at the bottom of the following page. (This article also has extensive discussions on Google Earth, if you're interested.)

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}


[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Censorship]]
[[Category:Internet culture]]

Categories: California, Censorship, Internet culture