Star Wars – The Force Awakens had its world premier on Monday and the embargo for reviews was lifted in Wednesday. Most of the online reviews do not spoil the film but the official e-book certainly does. Disney does not want people spoiling the film, but has occurred on the official Star Wars Books Facebook Page. Hundreds of new posts were made within a few hours and this has resulted in the closure of the Facebook Page.
Here is the official statement that the publisher made
You may have noticed that the Star Wars Books Facebook page has disappeared. First off, yes this was intentional. The page was not hacked and it was not deleted. It has been deactivated, which means that it is hidden from public view.
Very recently, some individuals began posting comments on our page purporting to spoil major events in The Force Awakens. We had previously asked that people refrain from spoiling the film on our page, as we have a large fan base from all over the world, who will all be seeing the film at different times. As excited as we always are about discussing Star Wars, we firmly believe that everyone has the right to experience the film in whatever manner they desire.
Some individuals decided not to respect that request. While we quickly removed those comments, even if they were present for only 2 minutes – that is 2 minutes too long. Facebook doesn’t have more adequate tools for moderating comments (filters are helpful, but not foolproof), so we made the decision to simply unpublish the page.
We don’t want to give people who wish to spoil the movie for others a platform to do that and we are under no obligation to do so.
To be 100% clear. We do not attribute the actions of these individuals to any larger group. We also DO NOT believe that the individuals represent the wider beliefs of any such group that they may or may not be affiliated with.
We know an article or two was published earlier this week that suggested that actions like this may occur. Frankly we aren’t interested in debating the motivation, origin or level of coordination involved with the comments. Again, we simply decided that the best way to help protect our fans from spoilers was to unpublish the page.
The page will likely return on Monday (12/21). We’re certain that at that time, some people may continue to try and spoil the film. We will moderate those comments as necessary. When we return we’ll be ready to chat about all things Star Wars – including the amazing book projects we have for you in 2016.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
