When a Tech Influencer Demands GPL Source Code: The UMIDIGI F2 Story

Today a Chinese company, UMIDIGI (formerly Youmi), was accused of violating the GPL‑v2 open‑source license after a well‑known tech influencer and a Polish developer publicly demanded the source code of its Android 10‑based UMIDIGI F2 phone.

The GPL‑v2 license requires that any modified GPL‑v2 project must also make its source code publicly available. This key provision was the basis of the controversy.

A developer from Poland asked UMIDIGI to release the kernel source of the UMIDIGI F2. The company replied through an employee named Ben, claiming most of the code belongs to MediaTek and that they have no right to publish it, but invited the requester to their Shenzhen office to collect the source code in person.

Influencer Naomi Wu, known as “Mechanical Witch,” took the request further by visiting UMIDIGI’s Shenzhen office and demanding the source code directly, surprising the staff.

Comments on Reddit and Twitter highlighted the oddity of a celebrity walking into a corporate office to request open‑source code, with users noting the importance of vendor compliance for the health of the open‑source ecosystem.

Ultimately, the incident serves as a reminder that anyone involved in open‑source projects must respect license obligations. The diagram below illustrates several common open‑source licenses and their key rules.