A GIF of a flailing purple dove from facebook sticker called “Trash Doves” was popping up in never-ending chains of comment threads everywhere. After achieving viral fame, the creator, Syd Weiler dealt with repeated instances of plagiarism and copyright infringement. The 4chan users also coordinated a harassment campaign to make a fuss that the dove was a hate symbol, leading to its removal from the Apple App Store.  

“The improbable explosion of my work online changed my life and the course of my illustration career entirely,” Weiler claimed in her blog post. 

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Trash doves in Asia

Weiler wasn't able to read most of the articles and memes which were being made about the sticker as the doves first went viral in Thailand after appearing on a Thai Facebook page. The Messenger sticker set quickly started spreading across Asia which also credited to Weiler's name, opening her personal Facebook page to hundreds of strangers who now had access to her photos and comment on her posts. 

For the success of the stickers, as a thank you gesture, Weiler drew a little Trash Dove holding the Thai flag with its foot. The sticker turned out to be an offensive cultural faux pas, as feet are considered to be dirty in Thai culture. This resulted in people sending her angry messages and asking why she hated Thailand. She soon apologized and redrew the image with the Thai flag in its beak.

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Misinformed campaign 

4chan users started a misinformed campaign to turn the bird into a symbol of white supremacy and neo-Nazi messages as soon as the popularity of the bird began spreading across the world. The 4chan users also targetted Weiler by flooding her inboxes with images of photoshopped Nazi doves. One of the users also posted her address in the chat, prompting her to call the cops in the event she was being swatted.

The viral doves opened the gate to bootleg merchandises, games, and apps that tried to make a profit from Weiler's creation. Weiler and her fellow illustrators registered over 80 pages worth of links to unauthorized merchandise. She compiled an individual copyright takedown notice. This highlights the risks that indie artists have to take while creating anything for the internet. They have to fight to maintain control over copyright and to deal with the worst-case-possible scenario where their artwork could be co-opted into a hate symbol.

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