They accused donald trump to use images protected by Copyright in his NFT collection, with social media users describing his lucrative venture as a “scam.”
The former president became a source of ridicule last week when what he called a “major announcement” turned out to be the release of a series of digital trading cards.
The NFTs show the former president, who is trying to be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidency from 2024, bizarrely simulated as various characters, including a superhero, an astronaut, and a cowboy.
Despite being priced at $99 each, the 45,000 images sold out on Friday afternoon, according to the promoting site.
But while the former president could enjoy a short-term boost to his bank balance, in the long run, the business could leave him penniless.
The most attentive social media users took to Twitter to point out that many of the images look oddly familiar.
Some of the designs appear to be little more than Trump’s head edited into images found on small clothing business websites, stock images, or even clothing for sale on the Internet. Amazon Y Walmart.
Matthew Sheffield, a journalist for The Young Turks, said Trump’s cowboy NFT appeared to be a doctored image of a trench coat sold by Amazon as “Scully Men’s Duster.”
“It appears that Donald Trump’s NFT of himself as a cowboy came from a slightly altered Amazon image,” he tweeted.
Another social media user questioned whether Trump had obtained permission from Reuters to use a photo one of their photographers had taken of the former president playing golf.
“NFT of Trump playing golf is a scaled down and photoshopped shot of a David Moir/Reuters file photo from 2011, when Trump was playing for his club in Scotland,” he tweeted.
“Even the creases in his pants are the same, hahaha! Did Reuters authorize this? That awful”.
Another design, where Trump is dressed as a fighter pilot, was reportedly taken from a stock image on Shutterstock.
The WhaleChart cryptocurrency account highlighted what appears to be a watermark left on the outfit.
Several Twitter users have suggested that the former president could face legal action for copyright infringement on digital trading cards.
“Using another company’s unpaid stock photos and images to create an image for profit is considered copyright infringement,” one person tweeted.
“We will see if the owners of the images will denounce Trump. He never pays for his mistakes.
Another person said this was just the latest “scam” from the former president.
“NFTs are digital files that must be ORIGINAL art to generate value. Trump NFTs copied existing art and photos for their #MajorAnnouncement of the collectible card scam,” he tweeted.
“This is copyright infringement and is illegal. It’s always a scam with Trump.”
Trading cards aren’t the only thing that could give Trump a headache.
The alleged scandal came to light days before the last public meeting (Monday, December 19) of the House of Representatives committee investigating the attack by January 6, 2021 against the US Capitol, in which the criminal charges against the former president were referred to the Department of Justice.
