Why the end of Flash animation marks the end of an era for creativity on the Web

The formal end of Flash functions as an important marker in the Internet’s transition from the creative free-for-all of the ‘90s, with its GeoCities homepages and weirdo chat rooms, to the corporatised space of today, dominated by a handful of US-based technology companies. Background vector created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com

It was a tale of death and Teletubbies.

In 1998, programmer and animator Tom Fulp released an online video game titled Teletubby Fun Land that featured the characters from the British children’s television programme getting drunk and stoned. As the site grew in popularity, the BBC, which aired Teletubbies, grew appalled. In 1999, the British broadcaster demanded that Fulp, then a college student, take the site down. He initially acquiesced, but within days, Teletubby Fun Land was right back up – with Fulp noting that parody was protected under laws governing free speech.