THE DIABETES APP PLAGIARIZED MY ARTWORK
In late July I downloaded The Diabetes App because I was curious to see what it was about. When I was on there I just happened to see this post with an illustration that looked just like my artwork.
This is part of my comic from “Night Of The Living Diabetic” that I created in 2019.
I saw this was posted by The Diabetes App on their App platform on the 21st July 2021.
It had 10 likes and 5 comments on it.
At the time I saw this I felt frustrated and disappointed. I’ve had this happen to me several times in the past. I was busy doing other work, and thought I would deal with it when I had time. So I took a screenshot and left it.
Last week, The Diabetes App contacted me via email.
When I read this, I felt angry remembering how they ripped off my artwork. So not only do they want to steal my content, but they now want me to advertise it on their platform and pay them to do so? I asked them how much it was to advertise with them, and they came back with this reply from another staff member:
$300 USD to advertise my content on their app?
First of all, I’m an artist living with diabetes. If I had $300 a month to spare, I would be spending it on a Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor. Something I can’t afford right now, but would love to have to manage my diabetes.
Ripping off my artwork, and then receiving this email from them to try and persuade me to spend $300 a month in advertising was so abhorrent to me, I decided to post it on social media.
Ballsy move from The #Diabetes App - First they rip off my artwork, then email a well researched profile on me, to convince me to pay THEM $300 a month to advertise my content on their app. Counter offer, anyone? pic.twitter.com/6oM3Y2LRiu
— Miss Diabetes (@miss__diabetes) September 30, 2021
The Diabetes App then decided to respond in the following way – with this tweet.
An address to our community. We have reached out to the artist and are currently waiting to hear back. pic.twitter.com/DE5Pxurnsu
— The Diabetes App (@thediabetesapp) October 1, 2021
They addressed me as “the artist”, rather than by name, and that I “claimed” they had stolen my artwork, and they were waiting to hear back from me?
EXCUSE ME…You’re waiting on me? Oh I’m sorry to inconvenience you by being in a different time zone! I’ll let you wait a little longer while I respond to my T1D friends and “address” the T1D community who support me first 💅 https://t.co/sxK1lSwOtB
— Miss Diabetes (@miss__diabetes) October 1, 2021
So I decided to address their statement with an open letter on both Instagram and Twitter.
The response to my open letter was of shock and support from the diabetes community. But what was unexpected to me was the amount of other diabetic artists, dieticians and content creators that had been approached by The Diabetes App. Their experiences were the same, where they were either approached to do free work, or where artists were intimidated and gaslighted by them.
The Diabetes App pays diabetes influencers to promote their app, but they want content creators to either work for free, do live streams for free, or just steal artwork from diabetic artists?
@type1untangled, another diabetic artist shared her message exchange on how they also copied her artwork, but denied any wrong doing.
The Diabetes App in fact admit seeing @type1untangled’s artwork on Pinterest and “recreating it with their own flare”. This sounded to me like The Diabetes App team either didn’t understand the difference between inspiration and plagiarism, or this was a familiar excuse they have used on both myself and @type1untangled.
They also make it sound like they are doing @type1untangled a favour by saying “if you’d like, we could tag you in a caption and let people know we got the inspo from you.”
It’s interesting to also note in their second statement that appeared on instagram, (which I will post below), they say they are a “small team”, but here in their correspondence with @type1untangled they have enough people to have a social media/content creation team AND a livestream team?
Beta Cell Podcast then uncovered information regarding their IPO. Below is their instagram post.
You can also view this on the Beta Cell Podcast’s website.
As summarised by Beta Cell Podcast, the information gathered about their IPO points out that The Diabetes App is a “for profit social app network that wants to become an online pharmacy with 20-40% margin and ad targeted at people with diabetes. The founder Sean Zaboroski doesn’t seem to have diabetes, just see the potential in going after niche groups.
The Diabetes App then released this statement on their website.
There is so much incorrect information in this statement.
- I said that they emailed me with an advertising proposition of $300 USD.
- I’ve never claimed they’ve worked for the pharmaceutical industry.
- I’ve asked if the CEO, Sean Zaboroski, COO Taylor Companion and CRO Ruri Otani themselves have diabetes.
- I have not personally attacked anyone with vulgar names.
- They plagiarized my artwork and are claiming there was a “My Side of the Bed trend” going on. If that was true, why didn’t they come up with their own illustration for this?
More information is being uncovered, as more content creators and diabetics come forward with their own stories of their experiences with The Diabetes App. Watch this space!
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This website is a personal account of Type 1 Diabetes and should in no way be taken as medical advice. Please consult your medical team if you have any questions regarding your own diabetes management.
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