This is how you draw out Disney’s lawyers.
Not all private server operators are horrible people, but by golly there are a lot of horrible people running private servers for various online games.
It’s rare to see gaming websites cover private servers and less so for us to directly refer our viewers to them by name or with links, and I’m going to give you the skippy on why; it’s not generally because we think it’ll get our websites blacklisted by publishers but because it’s impossible to vet the people operating the servers and out of concern for sending people, likely teenagers and children, into the arms of the internet’s hive of scum and villainy.
Disney has issued copyright takedown notices to most if not all of the operating Club Penguin private servers this week after it became aware that their online sanctuary for children has been co-opted by trash people. The largest server, Club Penguin Online, was investigated by the BBC recently who discovered that the operators had removed the strict chat censorship and opened the doors for all levels of bigotry and most dangerously sexual messages directed at children.
One of the men involved in Club Penguin Online has been arrested on possession of child abuse images. Players on the server according to the BBC were openly sharing Snapchat, Instagram, and Discord details and advertising Zoom sex calls. Club Penguin Online had been getting increased attention from various Youtube channels over the past month over the potential danger it poses to children.
The Club Penguin private servers have also accused each other of engaging in directed harassment, doxing, denial of service attacks, sending death threats, and more to take down “competing” private servers. Disney’s lawyers were not happy, as one might expect, and sent cease and desist orders to a number of private server operators. In a statement to the BBC, Disney said:
“Child safety is a top priority for the Walt Disney Company and we are appalled by the allegations of criminal activity and abhorrent behaviour on this unauthorised website that is illegally using the Club Penguin brand and characters for its own purposes.”
If you want to know why we can’t have nice things, ask the people running Club Penguin Online.
MMO Fallout 