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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Matthew Cantor

‘Profiting off suffering’: AP news agency cancels sale of migrant boat NFT amid backlash

The AP originally planned to offer the photo of an overcrowded rubber boat north of the Libyan coast as an NFT, before calling the image a ‘poor choice’.
The AP originally planned to offer the photo of an overcrowded rubber boat north of the Libyan coast as an NFT, before calling the image a ‘poor choice’. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

The Associated Press has withdrawn plans to sell a video “of migrants drifting in an overcrowded boat in the Mediterranean” as an NFT after facing a backlash online.

The news outlet’s Thursday tweet advertising the clip, which came as Russia’s invasion raised fears of widespread displacement of Ukrainians, provoked accusations that the AP was seeking to profit off of suffering.

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