History Main / StreisandEffect

* Notably averted with {{Music/Radiohead}} in 2019 when 18 hours of ''OK Computer'' sessions were copied and leaked online by someone who had been involved with the band during the "OK Not OK" reissue period. They had previously tried to extort money from the band thinking that the group would want to suppress the material in this manner. In reality, the opposite happened - Thom Yorke officially released the material as a download, in higher quality than the leaks, on the condition that the proceeds went to charity.

* On April 10, 2020, soon after the breakout of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the country's ruling Law and Justice party, decided to visit the grave of his twin brother Lech to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death in the Smolensk disaster, [[{{Hypocrite}} while the COVID-related restrictions imposed by his government forbade the rest of the Polish people from doing the same for their loved ones.]] A month later, famous singer-songwriter Kazik released a single about the incident, titled "Twój ból jest lepszy niż mój" ("Your pain is better than mine"). While it reached the top of the state-run Polish Radio Station III's music chart (which has for years been the most notable of its kind), it didn't attract much attention beyond that, with the music video sitting around a couple hundred thousand views on Website/YouTube. That is, until the station's editor-in-chief Tomasz Kowalczewski nullified that week's chart (which was widely interpreted as having been done on the insistence of Law and Justice's top brass), claiming that the vote was rigged somehow. This controversy led to the song skyrocketing in popularity, reaching almost 8.3 million views a week after the initial Station III chart. It also led to Marek Niedźwiecki, one of Poland's most respected radio broadcasters and the station's biggest draws, [[StartMyOwn leaving to start his own Internet radio station]], with plenty of his colleagues following suit. Without most of its top talent, Station III later experienced a massive ratings decline, dropping to 50% of its share of radio listeners from a year prior.

--> -- '''Creator/MaeWest'''

* After the release of the Music/{{Queen}} song "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)", former band manager Norman Sheffield decided to sue for defamation, despite the fact that [[INeverSaidItWasPoison he was never mentioned by name]]. He succeeded only in informing the world whom the song's scathing insults were targeting.

* In the mid-1980s, the efforts of Mary Whitehouse launched a campaign in the UK against "video nasties" -- horror and/or exploitation films that were unrated, because British film censorship laws hadn't been updated to account for the existence of videotapes, and thus could be legally rented by viewers as young as ten years old. Few people took Whitehouse seriously enough to consider outright banning such movies, though the campaign ended up sparking a profound interest in the otherwise unremarkable low-budget grindhouse horror movie schlock that made up the majority of the "video nasties" that Whitehouse was railing against.

* In 2015, New Zealand filmmaker David Farrier found some videos online of "competitive endurance tickling", and he contacted the production company to ask some questions. He was met with so much hostility that he blogged about it, the posts went viral, and the company sent representatives to New Zealand to intimidate Farrier. Farrier kept digging, naturally uncovered everything that the person behind the videos wanted to conceal, and made it into the documentary ''Tickled'', which was shown at Cannes. If the production company had merely told him from the start [[spoiler: "We make niche custom porn for this rich guy"]], Farrier would almost certainly have lost interest.

* This is a driving reason why Billy Mitchell (of ''Film/TheKingOfKong'' fame) and his alleged cheating and collusion with Walter Day and Twin Galaxies arcade has become so well-known. Mitchell developed a nasty habit of filing {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s towards anyone who so much as suggests he cheated at the world record for ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' or lied about receiving his title of "Video Game Player Of The Century" in an attempt to cover it up, which backfired and caused it to become such common knowledge that even ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' once [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAlMnR4RwE made fun of him]]. He sued them for that too, lost, and they retalatiated by mocking him even further. Worse still, old photos have resurfaced that prove conclusively that Mitchell cheated[[note]][[https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-3.png This]] old photo shows that the cabinet he played on was modified to have a red joystick capable of registering eight directions, rather than the stock black joystick that only registered four, letting him climbing ladders to dismount them faster than normal[[/note]], and he escalated things to the point that he even attempted to fake court evidence by having a new "Video Game Player Of The Century" plaque made which was quickly debunked as fake[[note]][[https://perfectpacman.com/2023/07/23/fake-evidence/ this article goes into ludicrous detail]]. Note that was originally Mitchell's own site; when he let the domain expire someone bought it and made a site devoted to his exposing him as a cheater and fraud, also likely in retaliation for his trigger-happy lawsuits[[/note]] because of all the attention he's brought onto himself. Mitchell even once tried to sue [=YouTuber=] [[https://www.youtube.com/@karljobst Karl Jobst]] for mentioning Mitchell one time in one video, and then ''again'' for featuring [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTqRx-F7ZqA this clip]] in one video, causing Jobst to retaliate by making ''over a dozen'' more videos devoted entirely to Mitchell that offer play-by-play coverage of the whole ordeal, spreading word about Mitchell being a cheater even further. More than likely, none of this would have ever been seen aside from a handful of {{Speed Run}}ners had Mitchell not been so trigger-happy with lawsuits that tried to sue people into silence.

* In September 2023, [[https://youtu.be/XyOSBp3arDo a YouTube video was released]] accusing ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' developer [=YandereDev=] of having groomed a 16-year old girl codenamed "Jane", followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering intimidating her into denying the accusations]]. The video was subsequently hit with a copyright strike under "Jane"'s real name, with her later confirming that [=YandereDev=] had done so under her name. [=YandereDev=]'s attempts to keep the scandal under wraps merely [[NotHelpingYourCase confirmed to many onlookers that he had something to hide]], and they promptly reuploaded archived links to the accusation on websites such as Website/{{Tumblr}} to spread awareness. While the original video was reinstated a while later, the damage was done -- nearly all of ''Yandere Simulator'''s voice actors quit in solidarity with the allegations, and [=YandereDev=] himself was banned from both Website/{{Twitch}} and Website/{{Discord}}.

** In the season there was an even bigger problem that had to be addressed. Just prior to the season, contestant [[Unperson Sherry Pie]] was revealed to have posed as a casting director and tricked several men into sending her what were basically fetish videos. Although she made the final four she was subsequently disqualified from the finale, but in fairness to the other queens the season still aired but Sherry’s role had to be heavily cut down, her vestigial presence creating a weird sense of anticipation and intrigue in the viewers — essentially "how the hell are they going to handle the Sherry situation this week?”

* In the spring of 2016, Creator/AmberHeard filed from divorce from Creator/JohnnyDepp and was granted a domestic violence restraining order in California, where they both resided at the time. [[note]] Heard now lives in Spain. [[/note]] Heard never had publicly accused him of anything at that point but "The Sun", a UK tabloid, referred to him as a "wife beater" which caused him to sue them for defamation. However, the lawsuit ended up blowing up in his face. Not only did it come back with a ruling that the judge believed it had been proven to the civil standard that he'd physically abused her at least twelve times and sexually assaulted her at least once (his attempt to appeal was denied), it also revealed damning information about his personal conduct while working that in all likelihood made him uninsurable for any studio work. [[note]]For starters, Disney believed he had lied both to them and their insurers when his contract was renewed for ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' about being sober. While filming in Australia, he was doing drugs heavily and was often late to set. His staff admitted during the trial that they had been procuring illegal drugs for him. During one particularly brutal incident against Heard, he took roughly eight MDMA pills and severed the tip of his finger during the rampage. After this he had to be flown back home to the US to see a specialist which caused production to halt for two weeks and cost Disney tons of money. After this, they decided to part ways with him for good. [[/note]] The judgement came down while he was filming ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore'' and he was fired within days and replaced by Creator/MadsMikkelsen. Being let go from that series (which allegedly had been a long time coming) [[note]] There are reports that Creator/WarnerBrothers had done its own investigation into the Depp/Heard matter that came to roughly the same conclusion as the court case and had decided to fire him based on that but were just waiting on a legally binding ruling to pull the trigger. [[https://www.mugglenet.com/2020/11/exclusive-crew-members-inside-production-confirm-that-mads-mikkelsen-is-replacing-johnny-depp-as-grindelwald/ Mugglenet talked]] to people within the production who claimed that talks of his leaving had been going on for quite some time.[[/note]] almost certainly marked his last time working on a studio film.

* In the spring of 2016, Creator/AmberHeard filed from divorce from Creator/JohnnyDepp and was granted a restraining order in California, where they both resided at the time. [[note]] Heard now lives in Spain. [[/note]] Heard never had publicly accused him of anything at that point but "The Sun", a UK tabloid, referred to him as a "wife beater" which caused him to sue them for defamation. However, the lawsuit ended up blowing up in his face. Not only did it come back with a ruling that the judge believed, to the civil standard, he'd abused her at least twelve times and sexually assaulted her at least once (his attempt to appeal was denied), it also revealed damning information about his personal conduct while working that in all likelihood made him uninsurable for any studio work. [[note]]For starters, Disney believed he had lied both to them and their insurers when his contract was renewed for ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' about being sober. While filming, he was doing drugs heavily and was often late to set. His staff admitted during the trial that procuring illegal drugs for him. During one particularly brutal incident against Heard, he took roughly eight MDMA pills and severed the tip of his finger during the rampage. After this he had to be flown back home to the US to see a specialist and caused production to halt for two weeks which cost Disney tons of money. After this, they decided to part ways with him for good.[[/note]] The judgement came down while he was filming ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore'' and he was fired within days and replaced by Creator/MadsMikkelsen. Being let go from that series (which allegedly had been a long time coming) [[note]] There are reports that Creator/WarnerBrothers had done its own investigation into the Depp/Heard matter that came to roughly the same conclusion as the court case and had decided to fire him based on that but were just waiting on a legally binding ruling to pull the trigger. [[https://www.mugglenet.com/2020/11/exclusive-crew-members-inside-production-confirm-that-mads-mikkelsen-is-replacing-johnny-depp-as-grindelwald/ Mugglenet talked]] to people within the production who claimed that talks of his leaving had been going on for quite some time.[[/note]] almost certainly marked his last time working on a studio film.

* Following a bitter divorce from Creator/AmberHeard, during which he was accused of domestic abuse, Creator/JohnnyDepp decided to sue The Sun after it ran an article calling him a "wife-beater". The result was a PR disaster, as not only did he lose the lawsuit, but the court proceedings also resulted in more unflattering details of his abuse of Heard being disseminated in public, as well as details of his drug use on movie sets, which led to him being dropped from ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore''. Meanwhile, ''The Sun'' continues to bring up his history of abusive behavior at every opportunity.

* The Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books (''Index Librorum Prohibitorum''; created in 1557, during the Reformation) was a list of books that Catholics were not allowed to read, like the works of Protestant theologians such as John Calvin, works from authors who were openly hostile the Church, like Creator/{{Voltaire}}, Denis Diderot, Creator/JohnMilton, and works from authors deemed heretical, like Giordanno Bruno or Félicité de La Mennais. The Index tended to be used as a reading list, and the printers used it as a guide on what to print next; one author, Anatole France, had all his works placed on the Index, something he deemed a "distinction".

* Herostratus may be the UrExample: He set fire to the Temple of Artemis in a bid for notoriety. In response, he was sentenced to [[UnPerson damnatio memoriae]], forbidding anyone from mentioning his name (either orally or in writing). As to how effective that law was? Well, you see, if it had worked, then this footnote wouldn't be here.

* This is a driving reason why Billy Mitchell (of ''Film/TheKingOfKong'' fame) and his alleged cheating has become so well-known. Mitchell developed a nasty habit of filing {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s towards anyone who so much as suggests he cheated at the world record for ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', even suing ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAlMnR4RwE making fun of him]] (albeit unsuccessfully). Worse still, old photos have resurfaced that prove conclusively that Mitchell cheated[[note]][[https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-3.png This]] old photo shows that the cabinet he played on was modified to have a red joystick capable of registering eight directions, rather than the stock black joystick that only registered four, letting him climbing ladders to dismount them faster than normal[[/note]]. Mitchell even once tried to sue [=YouTuber=] [[https://www.youtube.com/@karljobst Karl Jobst]] for mentioning Mitchell one time in one video, causing Jobst to make fourteen more videos devoted to Mitchell, spreading word about Mitchell being a cheater even further. More than likely, none of this would have ever been seen aside from a handful of {{Speed Run}}ners had Mitchell not been so trigger-happy with lawsuits that tried to sue people into silence.

** Before ''Music/StraightOuttaLynwood'' was released, "You're Pitiful", a parody of Music/JamesBlunt's "You're Beautiful", was set to be the lead single. James Blunt approved of it, but at the last minute, Blunt's label, Creator/AtlanticRecords, changed their mind, and "White and Nerdy" became the lead single instead. As a result, Yankovic released "You're Pitiful" for free and performs it on tour, mocking Atlantic in the process. Due to the backlash and the video for "White and Nerdy", [[UsefulNotes/{{Wikipedia}} the Other Wiki]] had to lock Atlantic's page to prevent Yankovic's angry fans [[WikiVandal from defacing it]].

* This is a driving reason why Billy Mitchell (of ''Film/TheKingOfKong'' fame) and his alleged cheating and collusion with Walter Day and ''Twin Galaxies'' arcade is all over [=YouTube=] and why he has become so well-known as a cheater that even ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAlMnR4RwE made fun of him]]. He's developed a nasty habit of suing just about anyone who even so much as ''talks'' about the allegations, let alone actually accuses him of being a cheater, and become so infamous for his apparently {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s even the general public has become aware of him and decided he's guilty of cheating. And yes, he ''did'' sue ''Regular Show'', albeit unsuccessfully, for that parody. Worse still, is some old photos have resurfaced that prove ''conclusively'' that he did, in fact, cheat[[note]][[https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-3.png This]] old photo shows that the cabinet he played on was modified to have a red joystick capable of registering 8 directions, rather than the stock black joystick that only registered 4. This means he was able to hold up and left or right while climbing ladders to dismount them faster than normal[[/note]], which would have never been dug up had he not made so much noise about how he won fair and square. In the end, who cares that someone may or may not have cheated at ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' a few decades ago? A handful of {{Speed Run}}ners and anyone interested in such world records. Who cares that someone is running around suing anyone for saying anything about it? ''The entire internet''. [=YouTuber=] [[https://www.youtube.com/@karljobst Karl Jobst]] has had an utter field day with this one -- After Billy Mitchell tried to shut him up by suing him for libel, for mentioning the man once, in a video that was actually about Todd Rogers no less, he has since made ''fourteen videos'' devoted to Mitchell, and appeared in several crossovers where he discusses such things with other [=YouTubers=], and been a large driving reason why so many people are now aware of the entire thing in the first place.

* In the mid-1980s, the efforts of Mary Whitehouse launched a campaign in the UK against "video nasties" -- horror and/or exploitation films that were unrated, because British film censorship laws hadn't been updated to account for the existence of videotapes, and thus could be legally rented by viewers as young as ten years old. Few people took Whitehouse seriously enough to consider outright banning such movies, though the campaign ended up sparking a profound interest in the otherwise unremarkable low-budget grindhouse/horror movie schlock that made up the majority of the "video nasties" that Whitehouse was railing against.

** Creator/ShiaLaBeouf and his supporters’ attempts to keep Website/FourChan trolls from interfering with the "Series/HeWillNotDivideUs" art piece only attracted the trolls more. [=LaBeouf=]'s escalating attempts to stop his livestreamed work from getting defaced or mocked saw him move it from a public New York area to an undisclosed location in North America (found by 4chan within two days to be in Greeneville, Tennessee), to a blank white room somewhere ''in the world'' (found to be London, England within ''four hours''). The effect eventually petered out once the project left the United States, and continued degrading to the point there was barely any difference between watching the livestream and looking at a .jpg of the phrase, when it became too boring for 4chan to further mess with it, with only a few dedicated trolls keeping an eye on it.

** This is a driving reason behind why the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] movement gained as much traction as it did. To make a very long and belligerent story very short and sweet, Channel Awesome did everything in its power to deflect blame with {{backhanded apolog|y}}ies and trying to sweep the allegations against them under the rug rather than address the individual grievances of their contributors. This caused nearly all of their contributors to [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal turn on them]], band together, consolidate their complaints in the now-infamous "Not So Awesome" document, and release it to the public, which got Channel Awesome eaten alive. Many of their contributors have said outright that all they really wanted was an apology and acknowledgment of wrongdoing from Channel Awesome -- had Channel Awesome done that instead of trying to bury the allegations to save face, "Not So Awesome" likely never would have been made and most of the public would have remained blissfully unaware and continued brushing off the few allegations they knew of as "not a big deal". If you want the not-so-short version, have a good two hours to kill, and keep in mind even ''this'' doesn't even tell the whole story, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRquNmDoJo knock yourself out]].

* Creator/{{Fox|NewsChannel}}'s lawsuit against Creator/AlFranken over his book ''[[ThatLiarLies Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them]]: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'', claimed that the title infringed on the "Fair and Balanced" slogan of the Creator/FoxNewsChannel. Franken and his supporters still insist the real man behind the lawsuit was Creator/BillOReilly for what Franken said about him in the book. News of the lawsuit caused the book to shoot up to Amazon's number one seller before it was even officially released. As for the suit — many of the plaintiff's arguments [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe were met with actual laughter in the courtroom]], and Fox withdrew the suit at the judge's recommendation.

* This happened to Creator/BillOReilly a couple of times when he decided to go after rap music in the early 2000s. When he went after Music/{{Ludacris}}, who became popular during the rise of Southern rap, he elevated him to superstar status and made him one of the biggest music stars of that decade. It also didn't help that soon afterwards, news came out about O'Reilly getting sued for sexual harassment, a problem that kept growing over time and led to his eventual firing from Creator/FoxNewsChannel many years later. Another example happened during an interview with rapper Cam'ron and rap manager Damon Dash. O'Reilly got visibly upset when Dash made a point about rap music encouraging positive work ethics. Cam'ron pointed this out during the show, and this led to the [[MemeticMutation "U Mad" meme]] that is still popularly used to this day. Needless to say, O'Reilly's attempt to get people from supporting rap music had the complete opposite effect.

Something horribly embarrassing or personal about you has been released -- anything from a [[HomePornMovie sex tape]], to an unflattering photograph, to the nickname you had when you were younger -- and you want to keep it out of the public eye. So you [[BuryYourArt do whatever it takes to make it go away]]: lawsuits, cease-and-desist orders, UsefulNotes/{{DMCA}} takedowns, whatever you have at hand. But it backfires: the efforts to censor the information become public, and people who would otherwise be uninterested are now dying to know what all the commotion is about. Whatever you were trying to remove from the Internet gets mirrored and copied to hundreds of other sites; the sex tape goes viral; the childhood nickname becomes national talk show fodder; the unflattering picture ends up in the newspaper. In other words, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy your fears that everyone would see the dirt on you is the very thing that caused everyone to look at it]], and the harder you try to fight it, the more popular it becomes -- and you learned the hard way that you probably should've [[JustIgnoreIt ignored it and acted like it was no big deal]].

* Discussed in the article "[[https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/317772/how-to-handle-criticism How to Handle Criticism]]" on Website/FimfictionDotNet. The article's author advises to not [[DearNegativeReader respond to negative criticism]] or attempt to delete comments that are trying to give ConstructiveCriticism on one's stories. The reason behind it is that people who weren't interested in your story are going to be attracted to all the drama surrounding it, and the story will be more known for being FlameBait than whatever it was originally being criticized for.[[invoked]]

* This is a driving reason why Billy Mitchell (of ''Film/TheKingOfKong'' fame) and his alleged cheating and collusion with Walter Day and ''Twin Galaxies'' arcade is all over [=YouTube=] and why he has become so well-known as a cheater that even ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAlMnR4RwE made fun of him]]. He's developed a nasty habit of suing just about anyone who even so much as ''talks'' about the allegations, let alone actually accuses him of being a cheater, and become so infamous for his apparently {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s even the general public has become aware of him and decided he's guilty of cheating. And yes, he ''did'' sue ''Regular Show'', albeit unsuccessfully, for that parody. Worse still, is some old photos have resurfaced that prove ''conclusively'' that he did, in fact, cheat[[note]][[https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/image-3.png This]] old photo shows that the cabinet he played on was modified to have a red joystick capable of registering 8 directions, rather than the stock black joystick that only registered 4. This means he was able to hold up and left or right while climbing ladders to dismount them faster than normal[[/note]], which would have never been dug up had he not made so much noise about how he won fair and square. In the end, who cares that someone may or may not have cheated at ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' a few decades ago? A handful of {{Speed Run}}ners and anyone interested in such world records. Who cares that someone is running around suing anyone for saying anything about it? ''The entire internet''.

* {{Discussed|Trope}} by the WebVideo/InternetHistorian a few times, since he covers [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the history of Internet trends]].