GOG has commented on its co-opting a transgender awareness hashtag in order to promote itself on social media, The digital distribution platform, a subsidiary of Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red, stopped short of apologizing for the tweet, instead saying it was not intended as a “malicious attack, nor as a comment to the ongoing social debate.”
GOG was criticized after it used the hashtag #WontBeErased in a tweet advertising PC games. “Yeah, how’s that for some use of hashtags,” the studio tweeted in a nod to its interpretation of the trending topic. #WontBeErased became a popular topic earlier this week, following the New York Times report that the Trump administration was looking to redefine transgender out of existence. After GOG was criticized for its use of the hashtag, the tweet was deleted.
Now GOG has addressed these criticisms, noting that the platform “should focus only on games.” However, the platform didn’t apologize for the tweet, instead choosing to vaguely acknowledge its existence rather than directly address it:
Yesterday, we posted a tweet containing a trending hashtag as a pun. The tweet was neither intended as a malicious attack, nor as a comment to the ongoing social debate.
GOG should focus only on games. We acknowledge that and we commit to it.
— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) October 23, 2018
The reaction to the apology has not been well-received. “Bravo. Once again you put the blame on those who took offense instead of showing some backbone. Disappointed, but sadly not even surprised anymore at this point,” one user tweeted.
“Do you even realise the scale of the problem here? This is not the first time this happened,” another added. “You need to rethink your social media approach and maybe make some decisions regarding people responsible for destroying your image. Those tweets reflect on the entire CDP, not just GOG.”
It’s unclear if GOG or CD Projekt Red will take further action in regards to its social media output, with some of its conduct painting a divisive public-facing picture of the company. For now, GOG’s acknowledgment of its audience’s concerns is limited to the above tweet.
