If you've been following the controversy surrounding the best actress category at this year's Academy Awards, the news you've been waiting for has finally dropped.
Hollywood's motion picture academy has announced it will not revoke the unexpected best actress nomination for To Leslie star Andrea Riseborough.
Riseborough was nominated for best actress for playing an alcoholic single mother in the little-seen film, a shock to awards pundits who had not expected her to be in the mix.
Social media tactics will be addressed
The surprise nomination sparked questions about whether a campaign for Riseborough had violated lobbying rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Heaps of A-list stars posted social media comments touting her performance, including Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt, Zooey Deschanel, Melanie Lynskey, Mira Sorvino, Alan Cumming, Tan France, Jenny McCarthy, Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna and more.
"The Academy has determined the activity in question does not rise to the level that the film's nomination should be rescinded," Academy chief executive Bill Kramer said in a statement.
With the purpose of the Academy's campaign regulations to ensure "a fair and ethical awards process", the rules around social media are set to be revised.
"We did discover social media and outreach campaigning tactics that caused concern. These tactics are being addressed with the responsible parties directly," Mr Kramer added.
"Given this review, it is apparent that components of the regulations must be clarified to help create a better framework for respectful, inclusive and unbiased campaigning."
This controversy could actually help the Oscars
Zak Hepburn, ABC News Breakfast's resident film critic, said the academy's decision not to rescind Riseborough's nomination was a "really interesting development in this year's Oscar race".
"Celebrities coming out on social media, really lending their voice to the chorus of a nomination is something we haven't seen before," he said.
"And that's obviously something the academy hasn't seen before – and that's a real game changer."
While Hepburn said the academy was "constantly reviewing" the nomination process, this development provides "a little bit of relevance to the academy".
"It makes [the academy] part of the conversation," he said.
"They're always sort of quite removed from the process in a way and I think this has been a really interesting sort of development where you see nominees, fellow performers and the academy entering into a discourse and I think that's something quite interesting that's occurred."
What you need to know about Oscar campaign rules
The academy limits how studios can reach out to voters, how often and what they can say in any communications as part of their Oscars campaigns.
More specifically, the academy has strict rules around lobbying:
Contacting academy members directly and in a manner outside of the scope of these rules to promote a film or achievement for Academy Award consideration is expressly forbidden.
In terms of social media, the academy states under its "quote rule":
Any form of advertising in any medium including online and social media that includes quotes or comments by academy governors and awards committee members not directly associated with the film is prohibited.
Plenty of celebrities that posted praise for To Leslie including Gwyneth Paltrow, who hosted a screening session of To Leslie and wrote on Instagram: "Andrea should win every award there is and all the ones that haven't been invented yet."
Oscar campaigners are also not allowed to refer to other nominees by name or single out "the competition."
In a now deleted post, the official To Leslie Instagram account used this quote from a Chicago Sun-Times article where entertainment columnist Richard Roeper ranks his top 10 films of 2022, placing To Leslie fifth.
"As much as I admired [Cate] Blanchett's work in Tár, my favorite performance by a woman this year was delivered by the chameleon-like Andrea Riseborough in director Michael Morris' searing drama about a mom at the final crossroads in her life after she's lost everything due to her drinking."
The To Leslie Instagram post was eventually taken down.
In its nine-page rules and regulations document, the Academy warns "it should not be assumed any tactics or activities not specifically addressed by these regulations are acceptable."
When will we know the changes to these 'clarified' regulations?
Mr Kramer says the changes will be made after this awards cycle.
As for when we'll know if Riseborough takes home the gold, the winners of the Academy Awards will be announced on March 12.
But there are plenty more award shows happening in the meantime, with the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) scheduled for February 20, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs) being handed out a week later on February 27.
