First of all, I have a "like-hate" relationship with Facebook. On my page, my friends, and I, have gotten into some really relevant, informative, and sometimes, very heated, debates/discussions. I look at my News Feed to catch up with the world that happened while I slept. I have also discovered, that most people don't use email to personally communicate any longer, they use FB private messaging.
Also, FB has been helpful at spreading the good word about events and news, but I think activism is slowly being transformed to "clictivism." The immediacy of the real time of commenting has led to many unfortunate, hostile and rude things being said. I know I am guilty of that. I have noticed that a lot of us type things we wouldn't say if the person we were addressing was sitting next to us.
However, the biggest drawback of Facebook is that we are literally handing all of our information over to the establishment on the paper plate of social networking. I stay because I believe the positives outweigh the negatives (for the moment). I have been known to disable my account for a few days though to take a self-imposed "Facebook break."
So, on the morning in question (Thursday, the 27th), I clicked on my FB bookmark and got a warning message that my account was being blocked for 30 days by Facebook because I posted "objectionable content." FB gave me the link to the "content" but, guess what? I couldn't see what the objectionable object was, because my account was blocked.
That day, dozens of other activists and truth tellers ALSO had their accounts blocked, but from what I understand, theirs have been restored, but mine hasn't.
If you're not familiar with Facebook, in your circle of "FRIENDS" (between my personal account and Soapbox account, I have about 13 thousand, or so), you can COMMENT on posts by others, and yourself; you can SHARE posts of others; you can LIKE posts; and communicate privately with other users. Also, on your own page, you can make STATUS UPDATES.
At this point, I can make STATUS UPDATES and post articles, but I can't do anything else. When I try to do something I am restricted by FB from doing, I get this message:
You've been blocked from using this feature because you may have violated Facebook's Terms. Please review the Community Standards to learn what's acceptable to share on Facebook.
If you need help, please contact us.
I did "contact" FB to ask them what I did that necessitated a 30 day restriction and this is the response I received from it:
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to submit this report. While we don't currently provide individual support for this issue, this information will help us identify bugs on our site.
To get answers to common questions and help from other people on Facebook, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/help
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
I am getting the old run around from Facebook, and I understand that it is a corporation and it's founder must have been very upset at the ridiculous IPO, but I somehow don't think it was a coincidence that so many of us were shut down on December 27th, the day of the Great Facebook Purge of 2012.
It is very frustrating that I can't even know what I did to deserve a 30 day restriction, but I know that I NEVER post anything that calls for violence against another person or animal; or anything that is sexually explicit. What I do post are FACTS that are obviously uncomfortable or threatening to some. (And I have been known to drop an occasional, well...many times, I drop "F" bombs.)
In closing, a couple of years ago, my organization organized a protest in front of the CIA HQ in Langley, Va against its drone bombing program. We had a FB page that was shut down a few days before the event, without explanation. The day before the event, I went to the CIA to meet with "security" and the local cops to chat about the protest. One of the CIA security dudes asked me how many people we expected at the protest. I responded, "I don't know for sure, but we had about 300 signed up before you guys shut down our Facebook page."
He looked startled and replied, "Cindy, we don't have that capability."
Yeah, sure.
UPDATE I:
I AM MIGRATING ALL OF MY SOCIAL NETWORKING TO
WORLDTRUTH.ORG
HERE IS THE LINK TO MY PROFILE:
http://www.worldtruth.org/cindysheehan/
Most of the people getting the "time out" treatment over the last few days are high profile right wing/anarchocapitalist FB members and the smaller set of left wingers who criticize Obama. This is a disturbing development because I think this latest crackdown from FB is being driven at by someone at the White House. Could be a low level staffer, but I doubt that FB would be suddenly doing this without powerful pressure from outside and the thing that the members in time-outs have in common is criticism of this Administration.
ReplyDeleteDOnt use a facebook page specifically set up to protest the CIA and expect it to be ignored under your freedom of speech. That is just ignorant and tactless. Whats more important that you get people to the event or shout out how your freedoms are being repressed because it shouldn't matter that you are just asking for it. Go ahead, walk in the middle of the road then complain about pedestrian right of way when you get hit by a truck.
ReplyDeletehey "anonymous" did you ever think that we used FACEBOOK to get people to the event? Duh? I was just sharing a story and you shouldn't have gotten so upset about it. Chillax, "anonymous." You can use your own name too, or would you think you would be "asking" for something?
DeletePS
DeleteI wasn't "complaining."
I found this link, which sheds a little more light on wtf is going on:
ReplyDeletehttp://marketdailynews.com/2012/12/28/facebook-inc-nasdaqfb-purges-pro-gun-accounts/
But, even if I was pro-gun, FB has no business discriminating about what users post--short of violence or pornographic content--or how they use their platform. The first rule in application development is NEVER tell users how to use your site; let the tool develop organically. Forcing users to "behave" as you want them to never works.
This is why I hate corporations. They are privately owned mini dictatorships.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you chose to join WorldTruth.Org and I truly believe you will enjoy the network. It's growing extremely fast. If you ever have any issues or questions, do not hesitate to contact me at 321-222-3556. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHey World Truth, Your about page doesn't have any information about where your servers are hosted. Can you let us know? It makes a difference.
DeleteI do not know for certain what caused this censorship but I am not surprised. The entire internet is open to such actions frankly and, as any movement expressing a desire to change the status quo gains momentum it might expect such treatment.
ReplyDeleteThe old saw about think globally, act locally certainly applies here.
RickD
After Googling around, I found that the World Truth servers are in Los Angeles. I think the public is ripe for a FB alternative, but I'm not sure any social media vendor that is US based is going to offer users the free speech alternatives they desire.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a better solution, but just wanted to put that out there.