In a strange move, it initially looked as though Disney was trying to claim legal ownership of any Tweets mentioning the #MayThe4th hashtag. It wasn’t, but here's what happened and why it looked like that's what Disney was doing.
Besides being the day before Cinco de Mayo, May the 4th is also known as ‘Star Wars Day,’ due to the similarity between “May the Fourth be with you” and the iconic Star Wars line “May the Force be with you.’ This year’s Star Wars Day is due to be a little different as Disney has already confirmed that the latest movie installment, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be available to stream via Disney+ on May 4th. What’s more, this also means this ‘May the 4th’ will be the first year fans can stream the entire Skywalker saga through a single streaming service. Needless to say, the excitement for this year’s Star Wars festivities is greater than ever, although Disney found itself a little too caught up in the excitement.
On the same day the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker streaming announcement was made, the Disney+ Twitter account encouraged social media users to share their “favorite Star Wars memory” along with the #MayThe4th hashtag. The Tweet was then quickly followed up with another stating, that anyone tweeting with the hashtag was agreeing “to our use of the message and your account name in all media and our terms of use,” along with a link to the official Disney T&Cs page. Essentially, it seemed like the company was claiming ownership of any Tweets using the hashtag.
Did Disney Really Try to Claim Ownership?
No, it didn’t. While it did seem like Disney was attempting to suggest that any use of the hashtag was bound by its terms and conditions, this was not the case. At least, not according to another follow-up Tweet that had to be sent out to quickly clarify the matter. Although, that has since not stopped users on social media from pointing out that 2020 will now be the year that Disney tried to own the Star Wars Day hashtag.
In the following Tweet, Disney explained that “the above legal language” simply refers to any replies to the original Disney+ Tweet, which also mention the hashtag in question and the streaming service's Twitter handle. What’s more, it appears Disney is only pointing out the T&Cs element because it plans to use some of those replies for “something special on May the 4th.” Therefore, Disney was confirming permission in advance because a reply might be used by its branding department, and Twitter users are agreeing for that to happen when replying to the original Tweet with the hashtag and mention.
In spite of the confusing message, Disney wasn’t actually trying to claim ownership of the hashtag, but was attempting to include fans in whatever the company has planned for the big day. Of course, with the internet being what it is, that’s unlikely to matter too much now considering many have already decided ownership of a hashtag was Disney's plan. As a result, #MayThe4th has since taken on a whole new meaning on Twitter, and this also means that this year’s Star Wars Day will be remembered not only for the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Disney+, but also the memes.
Source: Disney+/Twitter