We should change these rules. Facebook should review and improve their
policies so they don't discriminate people and should invest into proper
Help Desk with human beings reviewing the cases, not automatic blocking.
I wonder what might help Facebook, a lawsuit in Canada maybe?
On 2015-07-04 3:15 pm, A.Chukin wrote:
> I also have an example of the same problem with negligence in FB account
> blocking policy. One of the technical activists who supported civil
> society in Ukraine and help them with cyber defence get blocked by FB by
> reason of providing ID for unblock. It is obvious that it was happend by
> some outside "claim" from "well-wishers", but it is absolutely
> impossible to contact FB directly with explanations and he is completely
> rule out sending them any of his IDs, becouse it is a question of his
> personal safety. Very pity situation when many people suffer from
> burocracy of others.
>
> 03.07.2015 13:09, Arzak Khan пишет:
>
>> I think Facebook real name policy is very hypocritical and is negative
>> against activists working in regions like yourself and ours in Pakistan. We
>> also have a list of Facebook users and activists pages that have been
>> blocked on reports of government supported trolls. I am not sure if you can
>> unblock your ID by submitting a letter only as a user is required as per
>> their policy to submit a photo identification document. Anyone on the list
>> have any experience with it? Cheers! Arzak Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2015 21:57:13
>> -0600 From: p.i...@lycos.com To: liberationtech@lists.stanford.edu Subject:
>> [liberationtech] Can anyone help me get my account unblocked on Facebook?! I
>> am a Ukrainian Canadian activist and my country of origin is at war. I
>> created several groups on Facebook, including Russian Speaking Canada for
>> Peace, a political forum, which debunks Kremlin run propaganda, and has over
>> 1800 members. I also run fundraisers on Facebook to help orphaned children
>> evacuated from war-torn areas
of Ukraine. I am on Facebook since 2007 and don't pretend to be someone I am
not: the birthday, contact info, photos are all mine and my friends know who I
am. When Russia invaded and annexed Ukrainian territory Crimea, I changed my
legal last name to a pseudonym, to protect my family and people I work with
outside social media from bullying by Putin supporters, since the threats and
bullying online were/are abundant. Yesterday, on Canada Day, Facebook blocked
my account (obviously following a report from someone who tries to stop my
activism) and demanded to confirm my name by submitting my ID online. Instead
of ID I submitted a letter saying that I get regular threats and feel rather
uncomfortable sending my identification documents via insecure online channels.
I did add that I can show them to a legitimate representative or even in Skype,
but they can't expect a photocopy of a driving license or social insurance card
to be e-mailed or submitted through some suspicious form
online. Only last month Facebook has come under fire for biased political
blocking of accounts of Russian opposition and Ukrainian activists who are
constantly cyber-attacked by the paid army of Putin trolls. The petition, which
has already collected close to 15000 signatures, states: "Facebook
indiscriminately reacts to these reports by blocking the accounts of prominent
Ukrainian public figures and Russian dissenters. Lately, the bans have become
so frequent that we can now claim that Facebook has become an efficient tool of
the Kremlin."
https://www.change.org/p/facebook-stop-political-blocking-on-facebook [1]
Facebook "real name" policy has also come under scrutiny multiple times and has
been called discriminatory. Petition by performers, which collected over 40000
signatures asserts: "Facebook tells us that "it looks like you're not using
your real name," before requiring us to change it. We cannot emphasize enough
that Facebook is a poor arbiter of what is or isn't a "real
name." Performers with legitimate-appearing names get locked out of their
accounts while people with account names like "Jane ICanBeBadAllByMyself Doe"
go without scrutiny."
https://www.change.org/p/facebook-allow-performers-to-use-their-stage-names-on-their-facebook-accounts
[2] People using aboriginal names were discriminated by Facebook too.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/facebook-flags-aboriginal-names-as-not-authentic-1.2970993
[3] Just few days back, on June 30, Zuckerberg explained: "If your friends all
call you by a nickname and you want to use that name on Facebook, you should be
able to do that," he said. In this case, he said, the policy "should be able to
support everyone using their own real names, including everyone in the
transgender community." So it is not clear anymore, is Zuckerberg lying to
Facebook users or is he simply ignorant of what his staff does. When will
Facebook start treating its users with basic respect, when will it stop
political blocking and
discrimination?
Links:
------
[1]
https://www.change.org/p/facebook-stop-political-blocking-on-facebook
[2]
https://www.change.org/p/facebook-allow-performers-to-use-their-stage-names-on-their-facebook-accounts
[3]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/facebook-flags-aboriginal-names-as-not-authentic-1.2970993
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