The Streisand Effect strikes again! “Unflattering” photograph Peter Dutton wants removed from the Internet goes viral

After Streisand, Beyonce, Kanye and countless others, you’d think they would learn.  The more you want something removed from the Internet, the more likely it is that everybody’s going to see it.

Our latest “victim” of what has become known as The Streisand Effect is Peter Dutton, Immigration Minister for Australia.  Fairfax Media photographer, Alex Ellinghausen caught this one as he was about to step up to the microphone and address the media.

With the photo having been tweeted out by Stephanie Peatling, Fairfax Media’s political reporter, she was asked to take it down by Mr Dutton’s staffers, complaining that the photograph was “unflattering”.

Needless to say, the Internet is doing everything it can to help remove this image from the web.

Peter Dutton wants this photo deleted, so please delete it ASAP!
I'll just pin it here so you know which one it is. pic.twitter.com/n05I34bD2o

— Dave Donovan (@davrosz) May 3, 2016

https://twitter.com/barrysaunders/status/727338566695555072

Peter Dutton #auspol pic.twitter.com/wqVBVWSJqO

— Olivia Copse (@OliviaCopse) May 3, 2016

Please stop sharing this photo of Peter Dutton. He doesn't like it. pic.twitter.com/aJAyNf58f1

— David C. Simon (@davidcsimon) May 3, 2016

Dutton also wants you to delete this picture. pic.twitter.com/tfdjahHs9P

— Dave Donovan (@davrosz) May 3, 2016

Hey @PeterDutton_MP – may your unspeakable cruelty toward #refugees result in this very very soon… #AusPol pic.twitter.com/2Jxa69iMbd

— Kiera (@KieraGorden) May 3, 2016

It kinda almost makes you miss… oh, wait a minute.

https://twitter.com/j_hutch/status/727345614606848000

Lightroom sure has come a long way since its early days.

it is amazing what you can see you pull up the shadows of that Dutton photo in lightroom. pic.twitter.com/eoU2sxhBLy

— Wolf, yes that is my name. (@wolfcat) May 3, 2016

It was only a couple of weeks ago when it came out that University of California Davis reportedly spent $175,000 in an attempt to have photographs of a police officer pepper spraying students at a peaceful protest in 2011 removed from search results.

Fox&Hounds blog publicized UCDavis pepper spray scandal https://t.co/jVmAg12vcR Founder hired to scrub web of story https://t.co/EGMLDBhYL2

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) April 13, 2016

I do wonder if sometimes the “victims” of the Streisand Effect are using the principle to their own advantage.  I mean, how many times have “shocking” images and video footage suddenly appeared of celebrities over the last couple of decades that were created years earlier?

I suppose knowing the consequences of what will happen by attempting to get things off the Internet does have the benefit of getting all the ridicule out of the way now, and nobody will care about it in a few weeks or years time when it might become a bigger issue.