The Information Media Association (AMI) has expressed solidarity with the magazine ¡HOLA! after having suffered, through WhatsApp, “the biggest hack in the history of the press” on the occasion of the wedding of Tamara Falcó and Íñigo Onieva.
“¡HOLA! magazine announced last Saturday that it would print a special issue on Monday with all the details of the expected link, since the publication usually goes on sale on Wednesdays. But this launch has become the biggest piracy action in the history of the press in our country,” AMI said in a statement.
Although, according to what he says, the first edition of the magazine has sold out on newsstands, AMI points out that the special ¡HOLA! has reached “more people than have bought the magazine” through the “massive” distribution of the publication, through the WhatsApp social network, owned by Meta.
AMI warns that “piracy is a crime against intellectual property and carries prison sentences of between six months and four years”, in addition to economic fines and the obligation to compensate the damage caused.
According to AMI, referring to current legislation, they are committing a crime “both the people who download the content from legitimate access sources and distribute it for the first time, as well as those who receive it and forward it.”
For this reason, from AMI they show their “rejection” of this type of act that “damages intellectual property, affects the sustainability of the publishing industry” and puts “the work of journalists in danger”.
In addition, AMI requests Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, “responsible behavior” and asks it to “immediately stop the illegitimate distribution of editorial content and put the necessary means to prevent these behaviors from recurring in the future.”
Over the weekend, many Spaniards were watching what is considered the “wedding of the year” between Tamara Falcó and Iñigo Onieva. The magazine HELLO! a special issue with all the details of the expected link has been advanced to Monday the 10th (instead of Wednesday, its usual day of publication).
