TikToker claims David Dobrik stole his designs for Dispo app
DispoA popular TikToker is claiming that he came up with the design rebrand for YouTube Star David Dobrik’s ‘Dispo’ photo app, and even met with the influencer before seeing his ideas used in the final product.
Dobrik’s ‘Disposable’ app came out in December 2019, and was recently rebranded as ‘Dispo,’ a photo-sharing social media app with a retro spin on your regular Instagram clone.
Instead of being able to see and edit your pictures instantly, you have to wait until 9 AM the next day for them to “develop,” and can’t touch them up beforehand – much like a disposable film camera, hence the name.
Despite the creative idea, Dobrik is coming under fire from those who think he stole some of the designs for his Dispo rebrand from TikToker ‘karimxismail,’ based on a series of TikToks posted before the app came out.
Back on Sept. 18, Ismail posted what was basically a five-part video application attempting to get the attention of Dobrik to work on Dispo, a name he suggests during the above clip.
The YouTuber even commented on one of Ismail’s TikToks a day later on Sept. 19 calling his ideas “dope,” adding further credibility to his side of the story where he got completely cut out of the deal.
TikTokNeither mentioned the project again until news broke that Dispo had received a $4 million investment from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture fund.
Shortly after that announcement, Karim posted two TikToks detailing his experience with Dobrik ahead of the brand’s reveal, claiming he met with the YouTuber and Natalie Mariduena, Dobrik’s assistant and business partner. According to him, both saw his ideas/designs and “loved them.”
But after a “brief correspondence,” Karim said that the team told him they were “going in a different direction.” He noted that Dobrik and his team did trademark the Dispo name six days after his initial video, but he doesn’t seem to be upset with David for potentially using his idea at all.
“They said they came up with it first,” Karim said about the Dispo name. “Whatever the names end up being, I know David would never take the features or designs I created. Now let me make it abundantly clear, I was a David Dobrik fan and I still am.”
As one would expect, some debate has broken out on social media between those who think the YouTuber shamelessly swiped the name and those who are adamant in defending Dobrik’s credibility.
However, Dobrik himself hasn’t commented on the issue at the time of writing, and as this scandal doesn’t seem likely to derail Dispo, we wouldn’t count on him saying anything at all.