EXCLUSIVE: ‘Animal Crossing’ Marketplace Nookazon Responds After Censoring Black Lives Matter Political Content
by Polina Kuznetsova
'Animal Crossings: New Horizons' (Image: Nintendo)
Nookazon, an online marketplace for trading Animal Crossing: New Horizons in-game items, has released an official statement on the Black Lives Matter movement after the gaming community criticized the forum’s moderation of political discussions following the protests against police violence on its Discord forum.
On Saturday, as the protests following George Floyd’s death sparked across the United States, Nookazon users took the discussion to its Discord forums, posting abbreviations like “ACAB” or “1312,” which both spell out as “All Cops Are Bastards.”
According to a Twitter thread, posted by @daisycorpse, Nookazon’s moderator-banned the phrases as soon as they were posted in the chat. The thread urges Animal Crossing users to boycott the marketplace, claiming they supported “the side of the oppressors.”
stop supporting @nookazon. they have taken the side of the oppressors and are limiting free speech by banning “acab, 1312” and other related phrases. (last two screenshots provided by a server member who reached out to me) pic.twitter.com/K7mDaEFCL9
— dazey ❀ 1312 (@daisycorpse) May 30, 2020
Reminder not to support the actual Nookazon website or discord; for those unaware the moderation team and admin banned all of ACAB and BLM speech and only backpedaled and apologized after hundreds of users left the server. Use alternatives like https://t.co/YWcehz31eA instead.
— Suspect Nookazon Listings (@SuspectNookazon) May 30, 2020
i dont wanna see any of u supporting nookazon after they banned ACAB from the server and referred to BLM as “political and controversial” there are other places u can trade ur digital fossils.
— S♡NNY. (@_marmaIade) May 30, 2020
Other Nookazon users agreed with the forum’s policy to stay apolitical:
I’m pretty sure a server for discussing a children’s game is not the best place for talking about people bring murdered and riots as well as supporting violence. They didnt ban BLM, they literally say that they support it, just that the server is not the place to discuss it
— Thigh Addict |🇮🇪| Trap-pilled (@Addict69Thigh) May 30, 2020
Almost every server I’ve ever joined from several different communities has this policy. Am I supposed to leave those too? Honestly I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with wanting their server to be a nonpolitical place. As long as they keep that same energy across the board.
— Ghostie – BLM (@PlaysGhostie) May 30, 2020
The same day, Nookazon released a public statement, assuring the marketplace users that they supported the Black Lives Matter movement and apologized for deleting posts and comments connected to the protests. The statement claimed their team was “unprepared for a response to current events of this magnitude, which led to excessive moderation.”
In response to the criticism, the Nookazon team has also launched a separate Discord “current events” channel that allows political discussions. One of the moderators, Retrobane, has also urged the Black Lives Matter discussions to be moved to the new channel, posting the information on the “help” channel.
In addition to the announcement, a second page showed resources for donations for those who wanted to support funds, such as George Floyd Memorial Fund or Community Bail Fund.
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