SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Shortly after her rousing speech on feminism and gender equality at the United Nations, actress Emma Watson faced threats of having naked photos uploaded online.
According to The Guardian, users on messaging board 4Chan.com – the same site where leaked photos of Hollywood stars Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian first surfaced – posted a link to emmawatsonyouarenext.com.
The website had a photo of the actress next to a countdown with a 4Chan logo, insinuating that the Harry Potter star is next in line to have her private photos displayed to the world.
Feminists, fans, and other celebrities displayed support for Watson on social media following the news of the threats.
.@EmWatson you are impeccable & extraordinary. I stand with you. I believe in gender equality. #heforshe pic.twitter.com/xXQsyJ7WfP
— Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) September 24, 2014
Hoax?
The site however, no longer displays the countdown and instead, redirects to the Rantic.com homepage which calls for the shutting down of messaging board 4Chan. Rantic claims to be a “social media marketing enterprise that has participated in some of the most viral campaigns and music videos.”
The same group is also reportedly behind the viral Family Guy marketing prank “Brian’s Announcement,” reports Dazed Digital.
Though the short description on Rantic.com says that they were “hired by celebrity publicists” to bring the privacy leak issue via 4Chan to attention, Time reports that no celebrities have come forward to say they were working with Rantic.
The nature of the incident leads some to believe that the threat may just be a marketing ploy for Rantic.com, with others saying that Rantic itself is not a real company, and that the whole thing is really an elaborate prank. – Rappler.com
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