A recent announcement regarding a non-fungible token (NFT) on the Gamestop marketplace became the center of controversy in the world of digital collectibles. The announcement received sticks from the community, prompting the market to take action within a day, showing how a community can come together to reverse the bug.
The NFT in question, entitled “Falling Man”, it showed a man in a space suit falling. The NFT in question bore a strong resemblance to the infamous 9/11 photo of a man falling to his death that has since become a defining moment of the attacks. Many believed that the NFT was mimicking the 9/11 victim and also infringing on the copyright of the image taken by the journalist, Richard Drew.
In another discussion on the meme actions subreddit GME_Meltdown, one user noted that the NFT image is a render of an existing 3D model of a Russian flight suit created by an independent artist, which was used without permission from the original artist.
The GameStop team ended up withdrawing the NFT and even banned the creator behind the art from minting any more tokens on the platform.
Gamestop got rid of the nft and removed the creators ability to mint thankfully. pic.twitter.com/tJpcmXqkJz
— Thrawnbelina (@AltStacie) July 23, 2022
The cryptocurrency community demanded that Gamestop do better due diligence before approving any form of art to its marketplace, where a user wrote:
“Still not enough, how this is allowed is disgusting. There needs to be a review team looking at every NFT for crap like this or stolen art.”
GameStop did not respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment at press time.
While GameStop took sticks from the community, andhe incident opened a pandora’s box that highlighted how NFTs became a means of making a quick buck for many at the cost of common human decency.
OpenSea, one of the most popular NFT marketplaces today, has had “Falling Man” available for sale for almost two months.
The Falling Man NFT has been up on @opensea for two months plus. Stupid People are trying to shame @GameStopNFT for taken it down in a day! saying #GameStopNFT needs to do better content control They’re already the best!!! Go FUD elsewhere! https://t.co/DQNLRE6xd2 #GME pic.twitter.com/qQ8kIBvXWI
— VanGuardianVI (@VanGuardianVI) July 24, 2022
Another revelation came in early January of this year, when a doctor tried to sell an X-ray of the victim of the 2015 Paris terror attack as an NFT. The doctor is currently facing legal and disciplinary action.
The NFT craze began at the height of the bull run in March 2021, after digital artist Beeple’s NFT hit a whopping $69.3 million. Since then, “NFT” has become the buzzword, and every other brand and celebrity has gotten involved in the phenomenon.
With the rise in popularity, the ecosystem has also become a target for fraudsters, leading to an increase in copyright infringements and sales of fake NFTs. However, the crypto community has always come together to show the power of the people. One such case took place in May of this year, when the Solana community came together to “scam” a scammer and recover stolen NFTs.
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