# Distractify

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Online publication and Internet media company launched in 2013

Distractify Type of site Online publication Available in English Founded 2013; 13 years ago (2013) URL distractify.com Commercial Yes Registration No Launched 2013; 13 years ago (2013) Current status Active

***Distractify*** is an [online publication](/source/Online_publication) and [Internet media](/source/Internet_media) company launched in 2013 by Quinn Hu (also known as the [YouTuber](/source/YouTube) 2 Bucks), Yosef Lerner, and Jake Heppner. The company started as a [social media](/source/Social_media) startup for viral content and later branched out into news about pop culture.

## History

Founded by Quinn Hu, Yosef Lerner, and Jake Heppner, Distractify began in 2013 as a social media startup for [viral content](/source/Viral_content). The site reached 21 million unique visitors in November 2013. In 2013, 90% of traffic to the site came from [Facebook](/source/Facebook). Distractify competes with [BuzzFeed](/source/BuzzFeed), [Upworthy](/source/Upworthy), and [ViralNova](/source/ViralNova).[1]

In 2014, Distractify saw a drop in Facebook traffic after Facebook began to lower reach for meme-related posts.[2] The site received $7 million in funding that year.[3]

In 2017, Distractify filed a federal lawsuit against Brainjolt, which owns "22 Words", for publishing content which was similar to some of Distractify's content.[4] Distractify has been sued in the past on behalf of photographers for alleged copyright violations concerning the use of their photographs.[5]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Dickey, Megan Rose (November 22, 2013). ["This 20-Year-Old Is The Mastermind Behind Distractify, A Fast-Growing Media Startup"](https://www.businessinsider.com/distractify-media-startup-2013-11). *Business Insider*. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Reinemann, Beverly (May 2, 2014). ["How startups can leverage Facebook's new algorithm"](https://www.startupdaily.net/2014/05/startups-can-leverage-facebooks-new-algorithm/). *Startupdaily*. Retrieved February 5, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** FinSMEs (June 25, 2014). ["Distractify Raises $7M in Series A Funding"](https://www.finsmes.com/2014/06/distractify-raises-7m-in-series-a-funding.html). *FinSMEs*. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Maddaus, Gene (June 29, 2017). ["Distractify Accuses 22 Words of Stealing Its Viral Facebook Posts"](https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/distractify-22words-viral-copyright-facebook-lawsuit-1202480626/). *Variety*. Retrieved March 29, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Victor, Daniel (July 6, 2017). ["51 Times That the Aggregator Distractify Says Its Copyright Was Violated"](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/media/distractify-lawsuit-22-words.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved March 29, 2021.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Distractify](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distractify) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distractify?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.