Initial Launch of National Geographic NFT Sparks Backlash and Technical Issues

Initial Launch of National Geographic NFT Sparks Backlash and Technical Issues

National Geographic has launched its first NFT on Polygon and posted a detailed explanation of the technology on social media, prompting outright fury from hundreds of fans of the 135-year-old nature magazine who responded with rage.

NatGeo’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts posted an image of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs on Monday, with a caption detailing the rise of the non-fungible token, a popular type of unique blockchain token that is widely used to signify ownership of artworks and more.

The social media posts were designed to prepare the magazine’s core audience for its own edition of NFTs on Polygon, which was released on Tuesday and features work from 16 different photographers including Justin Aversano, Reuben Wu, Cath Simard and John Knopf.

NatGeo simply mentioning NFTs on their social media accounts was met with a flood of negative comments calling NFTs a “bubble” that has “already popped”, “bullshit”, “an extinct species” and even “another way to launder”. Many called on NatGeo to “delete this”.

Others have argued that the NFTs were an outright “scam”, effectively throwing the entire technology under the bus even though it is people, rather than the technology, who orchestrate NFT phishing scams and “rug pulls”.

Even famed photographer Ansel Adams’ account manager chimed in, responding to NatGeo’s Instagram post about NFTs with a simple “Nope.”

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