According to a report by TheGamer, one user of the OpenSea NFT marketplace called StakeTheWeb has been promoting NFTs consisting of pictures of some influencers and YouTubers.
The NFT market has seen massive popularity in recent times and has made millions of dollars for NFT artists and creators. While some members of the public are hopping on the NFT train, others are not too keen on the idea. In a recent development, images of some content creators and YouTube gaming stars from across the internet have been stolen and sold as NFTs.
The NFTs, which were posted on OpenSea, included a unique URL that is the presenter’s YouTube channel address. YouTube gaming stars Jim Sterling and Caddicarus, as well as Santa Monica Studios’ Alanah Pearce, had their pictures included in the collection.
Response to the Misconduct of Staketheweb
Venting his disgust at what had happened, Caddicarus said in a tweet,
“At least, AT LEAST, if you stole my shit and tried selling it off, make it a t-shirt. A mug. A clock. A thing. That you can use. And enjoy. Shilling off a profile picture for a collection you can just make yourself on a Facebook photo album is honestly a new level of pathetic lol.”
YouTuber Jim Sterling was also not left out in pouring out his feelings concerning the incident.
For Santa Monica Studios’ Alanah Pearce, it was more than a case of stolen pictures sold as NFT. Pearce’s pictures were stolen by an account named “Adult Erotic Arts”.
The account specializes in photoshopping pictures of celebrities onto porn magazines, with sexually charged language following the image. Oftentimes, the account features fake, photoshopped nudity of celebrities.
Following its custom, Adult Erotic Arts stole Pearce’s picture and photoshopped it onto a porn magazine cover.
Although OpenSea seems to have taken down collections that included pictures of Sterling and Caddicarus, and also taken down staketheweb and the other account involved in the act, Pearce will most likely take legal action as indicated by one of her tweets.
In extremely predictable news I’ve just been informed that somebody has taken an image of me, that *I* own, added a trademarked porn logo to it, and “minted” it to sell for profit as an NFT. Naturally, I was not asked for permission.
I cannot wait for the lawsuits ????????. pic.twitter.com/7993J1e6YA
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) January 16, 2022
In a recent article on how some have made millions with NFT, a 22-year-old computer science Indonesian student made $1 million after selling his selfies in the form of NFTs on OpenSea.
