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Streisand effect

The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead backfires by increasing public awareness of the information. The effect is named for American singer and actress Barbra Streisand, whose attempt in 2003 to suppress a photographer's publication of a photograph showing her clifftop residence in Malibu, California, taken to document coastal erosion in California, inadvertently drew far greater attention to the previously obscure photograph.[1][2][3][4]

Attempts to suppress information are often made through cease-and-desist letters, but instead of being suppressed, the information sometimes receives extensive publicity, as well as the creation of media such as videos and spoof songs, which can be mirrored on the Internet or distributed on file-sharing networks.[5][6] In addition, seeking or obtaining an injunction to prohibit something from being published or to remove something that is already published can lead to increased publicity of the published work.


The Streisand effect is an example of psychological reactance, wherein once people are aware that some information is being kept from them, they are significantly more motivated to acquire and spread it.[7]

Rebuttal by Barbra Streisand[edit]

In her autobiography My Name is Barbra published in November 2023, Streisand gives her side of the incident. She says "My issue was never with the photo . . . it was only about the use of my name attached to the photo. I felt I was standing up for a principle, but in retrospect, it was a mistake. I also assumed that my lawyer had done exactly as I wished and simply asked to take my name off the photo." Streisand said that she had already experienced security problems with intruders.[25]

 – Phrase used to describe a work prohibited in Boston

Banned in Boston

 – Unintended consequence of covert operations, typically involving rogue terrorist groups

Blowback (intelligence)

 – UK request to not publish information (popularly known as a "D notice")

DSMA-Notice

 – Legal order to restrict publication

Gag order

 – Four-volume book by Michel Foucault

The History of Sexuality

 – Paradox originating from the Greek legend of the Lernaean Hydra

Hydra effect

 – Adages and sayings named after a person

List of eponymous laws

 – Action to block publication of vulnerability

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority v. Anderson

 – Legal action against and by activists

McLibel case

 – Incentive that has a contrary result ("Cobra effect")

Perverse incentive

 – Unpleasant emotion experienced when behavioral freedom is threatened

Reactance (psychology)

 – Adult content warning

Red triangle (Channel 4)

Royal Family (film)

 – Litigation intended to silence critics

Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP)

 – Term meaning "success from scandal"

Succès de scandale

 — In England and Wales, injunctions whose existence and details may not be legally reported, in addition to facts or allegations which may not be disclosed

Super-injunctions

. Parkinson, Justin. BBC News, July 31, 2014.

"The perils of the Streisand effect"