Idk man.
I went to the Wiki article, and it’s formatted in a way that basically implies he did the app himself.
Renner explained the shutdown in a goodbye post. “Due to clever individuals that were able to manipulate ways to impersonate me and others within the app, I have asked ESCAPEX, the company that runs this app, to shut it down immediately and refund anyone who has purchased any stars over the last 90 days,” he wrote. Stars are the app’s version of currency. “What was supposed to be a place for fans to connect with each other has turned into a place that is everything I detest and can’t or won’t condone.”
So it’s some company called ESCAPEX. I could put money, but not a lot of it, on them having sold Renner the concept instead of the other way around. Artists always have tons of passive income from things like that, and it seems like it ran pretty smoothly for a few years, until the trolls, and when he found out, he shut it down.
Idk maybe it was his idea and he only shut it down when it became completely uncontrollable idk.
But I don’t know, and definitely haven’t seen enough evidence to say he’s a bad person.
MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 1 day ago
I read the wiki and a few articles about it a while ago when I saw the video that brought attention to the app: youtu.be/od7P-RhLjLQ
I don’t think the wiki or any articles I read seem misleading. I understand that he did not personally set any of this up, but having a separate app where people pay money to interact with you seems like shitty behavior for a celeb who is already beyond rich. I’m not saying it’s as bad as a crypto rug pull, but it’s giving similar energy. Clearly there are some people who were getting something out of the app, but it feels kind of predatory. If he wanted super fans to keep up with him he can just send out a newsletter. I get notifications when certain people I follow are touring near me and it doesn’t require a special app. I would probably feel differently if he put a lot of effort into engaging with fans there but it would still feel tainted with the fact that some people are spending money with the hope he’ll notice them.
It’s like having a patreon with no actual perks. If Taylor swift or timothee chalamet made a patreon and you could maybe get some nebulous benefit from joining I would think that’s also shitty behavior. It’s not illegal, and I understand that in theory the app was free, but the conceit is to make money off these parasocial relationships with you and it’s just gross imho. At least with merch or patreon subs you know what you’re paying for. I highly doubt he was even the one responding to most super fans seeing as most posts were copy/pasted from other social media platforms. He probably had some doing it for him.