Fan-Run Club Penguin's "Mature" Servers Shut Down By Disney

The Disney lawyers have a history of shutting down any usage of their property, but this time, it's for the better. The mega-corporation issued a cease and desist to the fan-reboot of Club Penguin after "mature" servers were overwhelming players with inappropriate material.

That's a lot for us to take in, too, so let's start from the beginning.

In 2017 the popular browser-based MMO for kids, Club Penguin, had shut down. The following year, the PC app version, Club Penguin Island, also shut down. This marked the official end for the game franchise. 

After not too long, the platform was revived by fans as Club Penguin Online. This was more or less a carbon copy of the original browser game, but it was not operated by the IP owner Disney in any way. 

Not long ago, the platform decided to open up "mature" servers. Here, players could use swear words and discuss mature concepts in an unmoderated chat.

See where this is going?

The BBC did some investigating and found that the mature servers weren't entirely unlike that of a Las Vegas alleyway. Players were posting racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic words, participating in sexually explicit roleplay (cybering) and sharing links and codes to platforms like Instagram, Discord, and Zoom meetings.

This caused enough of a stir that the folks as Disney stepped in, demanding that the site be shut down entirely at risk of legal action. They issued the following statement, as well.

"Child safety is a top priority for the Walt Disney Company and we are appalled by the allegations of criminal activity and abhorrent behavior on this unauthorized website that is illegally using the Club Penguin brand and characters for its own purposes. We continue to enforce our rights against this, and other, unauthorized uses of the Club Penguin game."

 
Club Penguin Online went offline on Friday following the order. The owner, a London man, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of possessing images of child abuse but is currently released on bail. We could not confirm this for ourselves.

Moderation is important on an online platform. This goes ten-fold for spaced intended for children. We're glad that an end was put to this before it got worse.