Dear RedBubble,

Subject: Time to Strengthen Watermark Protections and Safeguards for the 2 Million+ Artists Who Rely on RedBubble

Dear RedBubble Team,

RedBubble has long empowered independent creators — including my mother, whose designs found their audience through your platform. But today’s digital landscape is changing, and with it comes an urgent need to protect the creative labor your platform was built to showcase.

When my mother’s artwork — sold exclusively on Redbubble — appeared for sale on Temu without her permission, it raised immediate concerns. My self-led research, now part of an advocacy initiative called GuardMyArt, revealed she’s not alone. Many artists have had their original designs scraped from storefronts or misappropriated through less-visible channels — then sold in bulk by anonymous sellers on platforms like Temu and Shein.

These incidents don’t just stem from image scraping. They may also result from weak points in the production and fulfillment chain, where high-resolution design files are passed to external manufacturing partners. The moment those files leave the creator’s hands, they become vulnerable — unless proactive security measures are in place.

Why Static Watermarks Aren’t Enough

Current watermarking on Redbubble is limited, predictable, and easily removed — particularly by automated tools trained to detect consistent patterns. A 2017 research paper by Zhu et al. (“Deep Image Prior”) found that standard watermarking techniques offer little resistance to AI-powered removal tools, especially when the watermark’s position and opacity remain unchanged.

Experts and developers now recommend randomized watermarking, where:

• The watermark’s location, size, or transparency changes with each view or download

• Overlays are applied per session or preview

• Invisible identifiers (like noise patterns or metadata hashes) are embedded at the pixel or file level

This makes it significantly harder for scraping bots or design thieves to “learn” the watermark — and makes mass removal or automation nearly impossible.

We respectfully urge Redbubble to:

1. Strengthen watermarking protections with randomized, dynamic placement and/or invisible digital fingerprinting.

2. Allow creators to opt into advanced watermarking settings for high-risk work.

3. Reinforce protocols with third-party production partners, ensuring that submitted files are traceable, encrypted, or flagged with creator metadata.

4. Improve DMCA takedown support for artists affected by off-platform theft.

5. Publish a Creator Protection Report outlining current safeguards and future improvement

With over 2 million independent artists relying on Redbubble, the stakes are high. Artists shouldn’t have to choose between exposure and protection — not when the tools exist to help with both.

Redbubble can lead the way in creative ethics and digital responsibility. We’re asking you to rethink protection in the age of smart theft — and to stand with the creators who helped build your platform.

Sincerely,

Nathan Hadi

Founder, GuardMyArt

guardmyart.org

A self-led research and advocacy initiative to protect digital creators