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KONY 2012, a documentary produced by non-profit Invisible Children, has gone viral in the past couple days, receiving millions of views on YouTube and Vimeo.

The video has also, however, begun to receive significant backlash from organizations and publications questioning the authenticity of Invisible Children. Many of the negative critiques have been targeted at Invisible Children’s practices as an organization, not whether Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, is a war criminal.

Visible Children, a Tumblr dedicated to evaluating the legitimacy of the KONY 2012 campaign, raised some points Wednesday morning which have resurfaced in numerous publications.

“Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.”

You can evaluate Invisible Children’s 2011 budget, which is public online, for yourself: $1,074,273 was allocated to travel and $1,724,993 was allocated to staff compensation.

Invisible Children replied to the criticism in a blog post overnight Thursday, iterating its “three prong” approach to tackling the LRA: documenting crimes, channeling advocacy into energy and operating programs on the ground.

“In response to this explosion of interest about the Kony 2012 film, there have been hundreds of thousands of comments in support of the arrest of Joseph Kony and the work of Invisible Children. However, there have also been a few pieces written that are putting out false or mis-leading information about these efforts.”

Some Reddit users have been very involved in the discussion of the 30-minute documentary, raising similar questions and pointing out Invisible Children’s lack of compliance with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.

“While participation in the Alliance’s charity review efforts is voluntary, the Alliance believes that failure to participate may demonstrate a lack of commitment to transparency,” states the organization’s evaluation.

Others across the Twittersphere have accused KONY 2012 of promoting slacktivism — the idea that sharing, liking or retweeting will solve a problem — across the social web. Slacktivism was even turned into the college student and Wonka memes.

tough old man wrote:Got it first try!

Gin Master wrote:...

Zombomatic wrote:.

tough old man wrote:1.Kony is a real African Warlord
2.A hipster made a good video about capturing Kony
3.No fucking idea.
Hope that helps.

baffled wrote:Are you talking about General Petraeus or the dipshit right above him?

A co-founder for Invisible Children was detained in Pacific Beach Thursday for being drunk in public and masturbating, according to San Diego Police Department.

Kraj 2.0 wrote:I don't get it. Is this Kony character real? What do hipsters have to do with it? Who's the douche in the close-up at the end.

I don't keep up on world events.

SAN DIEGO -- The director of the massively popular "Kony 2012" video about a fugitive Ugandan rebel leader has been arrested on charges of masturbating in public and vandalizing cars in San Diego, KNSD-TV reported Friday.

Jason Russell, co-founder of the humanitarian group Invisible Children, was also apparently intoxicated or under the influence of a controlled substance during his arrest on a street corner in San Diego, police said.

Police said Russell, was "acting very strange."

Russell catapulted to national fame this month after the "Kony 2012" video went viral. The video focuses on Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, who is accused of recruiting children into sexual slavery and using them to fight against Uganda's government.

Since it surfaced on the internet in early March, the 30-minute video has become one of the most viral in history with some 137.2 million views, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Invisible Children's CEO Ben Keesey released a statement to USA TODAY, saying: "Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason's passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time."

Herv100 wrote:It was found out that the "charity" that made the video actually only gives like 30% of its proceeds to Uganda, and actually spends most of its money on their own salaries.