this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 190 points 1 day ago (7 children)

It means Banksy, who has remained anonymous for more than 25 years, could finally be unmasked as he would be required to publicly disclose his name if brought to court.

Gonna be hard to bring them to court if you don’t even know their name, isn’t it?

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 138 points 1 day ago (5 children)

With the London surveillance apparatus, I bet they could figure out who Banksy is. It’d be an insane waste of time and resources, but I bet they could.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 224 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The fact that they're going to all this trouble over this image proves the point the image was making better than anything else possibly could have.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 72 points 1 day ago

Streisand Effect to the max.

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Exactly and the image is already out on the internet now.

[–] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 93 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Before and after they tried to remove it only to further bolster the message

[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's almost like it was Banksy's plan all along because the removed artwork looks just as powerful as the full artwork.

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 13 points 1 day ago

Honestly, they inadvertently made it better, and certainly made it more poignant

[–] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 3 points 1 day ago

That is amazing. I love it when cesorship fucks its own ass lol.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you think it was intentional with the choice of paint, or did the person removing it intentionally scrub just the silhouette?

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

Looks like possible malicious compliance by the cleaning crew.

I know it’s what I’d do at least.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 17 points 1 day ago

This was the best I could find without people in it when it first went up:

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

If artwork is a threat to your system…

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

but, BUT, MUH LAW AND ORDER

[–] shininghero@pawb.social 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Could always make them waste even more resources by adding noise to what little data they might have.
I'm ~~Spartacus~~ Banksy!

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] El_Scapacabra@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm Banksy and so is my wife!

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I saw my dog with a stencil yesterday. Maybe he's Banksy.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

Mine peed on a wall today. Maybe Banksy is a team?

[–] oce@jlai.lu 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Does he still install them himself? Isn't it likely he sent someone to do it for him?

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Couldn’t tell ya, but that’s certainly plausible.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago

They have done both.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

i don't think it'd be that many resources. that's why they put up the surveillance in the first place. so its easy to find anyone and no one can easily hide.

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Finally all that money they’re giving to antichrist speaker Peter Thiel going to good use

[–] twinnie@feddit.uk 37 points 1 day ago

I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of people out there who know exactly who Banksy is. It’ll be like with The Stig, all the journalists knew who he was but the mystery was more interesting and sold more papers.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago

Seems like an opportunity for a bunch of street artists to show up at court and pull an “I’m Spartacus”.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've long heard that his identity is an open secret and a lot of people know his actual identity. Solid chance the UK government already knows who he is.

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 8 points 1 day ago

Them silently knowing his identity is not the same as them proving his identity in court though.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 15 points 1 day ago

Banksy is a company at this point. They can find them if they want to. It's not like they've never exchanged money for thier work before.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He has sold some of his work at auction, I'm guessing they didn't write a check to "Banksy".

[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago

Banksy has also been to court before, fully represented by his lawyer. The odds of them not knowing precisely who he is are fairly low, I believe.

[–] klu9@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

probably wrote the cheque to a shell company

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago

There's two companies associated with the name, at least. This is from memory, so grain of salt, but i believe there's a company specifically to get a hold of the artist(s). And one that sells the prints and stuff.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Rumors (which are even on Wikipedia) say it's Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack, who started as a graffiti artist. Bansky told interviewers that he was inspired by Del Naja.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If I was trying to keep my identity a secret, I wouldn't say I was inspired by myself.

And not even in reverse-psychology way, because then the interviewer would probably look up Del Naja and an immediately make the connection.

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Imagine if it isn't Del Naja, yet everytime he travels somewhere someone puts up a Banksy near you. I'd feel so powerful and in control of that happened to me all the time.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Enough gas lighting to fill a Zeppelin.