Fake & Ambiguous Streamer Partnerships — Disclosure Failures

Marathon's Server Slam launch was marred by two separate sponsorship disclosure controversies: DR DISRESPECT FAKE PARTNERSHIP (Feb 24-26, 2026): Dr DisRespect posted a photo claiming he 'just finished a photoshoot' for Marathon, using #marathonpartner — a tag reserved for official partners. Bungie's dev team responded: 'He's not partnered.' This was Dr Disrespect's second fake partnership in a month — he had previously fabricated a Highguard collaboration in January 2026. Despite being called out, he doubled down two days later, posting 'I uninstalled the Server Slam' with #marathonpartner again. THEBURNTPEANUT SPONSORSHIP AMBIGUITY: TheBurntPeanut streamed Marathon early access to 93K peak viewers. When his chat accused him of running an ad, he responded: 'I know you're going to say 'Oh it's an ad', I had a good time, f**k you.' The disclosure status of his Marathon streams remains unclear — he neither confirmed nor denied a paid arrangement, creating exactly the kind of ambiguity that FTC guidelines are designed to prevent. Community members noted: 'Why would you trust someone who sees a potential sponsorship partner' and 'watching all the paid to play folk advertising for it is mind numbingly boring.'