this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
19 points (67.3% liked)

World News

54944 readers
2584 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A new investigation says Banksy’s true identity has finally been uncovered after years of speculation, identifying the anonymous street artist as “Robin Gunningham” of Bristol and reporting that he later used the name David Jones to avoid detection.

top 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old

When my daughter was 7 she got really interested in graffiti and had tons of questions about it. She asked if there were any famous graffiti artists and I told her the names of some of the more prolific local artists, but of course told her all about Banksy.

I told her that she's really lucky to live during a time when Banksy's identity is unknown because at some point it will become known and the magic will be over.

That was 2 years ago, and I haven't told her about this story yet because until Banksy confirms it, I don't accept it. And because it makes me sad that the magic might be over.

We can unmask Banksy but just let the Panama Papers fade into obscurity.

[–] searabbit@piefed.social 19 points 4 hours ago

Banksy’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, pushed back on the report and said the artist did not accept many parts of the investigation as accurate.

Stephens argued that revealing the artist’s identity would compromise his safety, intrude on his private life, and undermine his ability to work freely.

Reuters said it decided to publish because of what it described as strong public interest in a figure who has had a significant and lasting impact on culture, the art world, and public discourse.

This is why we can't have ~~superheros~~ nice things smh

[–] HuudaHarkiten@piefed.social 32 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Who is wasting resources on this? Seems a bit pointless.

Also, I think its rather perverted that if someone makes it clear they want to be left alone/anonymous, the society/media declares "NO!" and goes to insane lengths to figure out who they are.

Same thing happened with Lordi, the Finnish metal band. When they won eurovision, the main guy said "I would appreciate if we could stay anonymous, or at least not have our real faces plastered all over." So of course the largest gossip magazine in Finland felt the need to plaster his face on the cover of their stupid magazine.

Though that did lead to a funny thing.. There was a "campaign" to boycott the magazine called "käännä Seiska" - "turn Seiska." My friend didn't get the full idea, since "käännä" is a slang for stealing. So he stole a bunch of those magazines from a shop, only realized he was supposed to turn them upside down not steal them, after he got home with a pile of Seiska magazines.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Who is wasting resources on this? Seems a bit pointless.

There are people who spend their lives tracking bigfoot, or trying to figure out who D. B. Cooper was, or any number of other mysteries. It can be a hobby.

[–] gnate@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

True, but I think the point is that Reuters, et al have better things to do.

[–] ugandan_airways@lemmy.zip 21 points 5 hours ago

Hey! Let’s take all the magic and wonder out of life and make everything fucking boring!

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 21 points 5 hours ago

It’s not true. Robin was at my place playing vidya anytime banksy put up an art piece.

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 hours ago

The Streisand Effect in action. It doesn't care whether those who want privacy are good or bad. The only way to stay relatively anonymous is to never use tech, go outside, or do anything noteworthy.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 18 points 6 hours ago

Yeah sure right, and Batman is Bruce Wayne.

who snitched?

[–] czl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

I am Sparticus... er... Banksy!

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 5 hours ago

"several masked men". if several people are involved in staging I don't see how they can actually identify one person. He does not even need to be in the area and could decide on how to do a piece from photos and video.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Really weird story... By some accounts this has been known for years and by others it's still unconfirmed...