The policy says “Facebook requires everyone to provide their authentic names so you always know who you’re connecting with.”
It is explained that “authentic name” means “what you go by in real life,” and not your legal name.
So what HAD HAPPENED WAS…. Facebook made me take a picture of my license and send it in to them in order for me to log back on to my account.
I complied because I wanted my voice to be heard and to help evoke change. They changed my name to what it said on my license. Watch my last video for my original thoughts:
I am not known by my legal last name – if people are searching for me, they search for Nathan Bluerock. And if real names are mandatory, this very same search bar makes it all too easy for a perpetrator or stalker to find their victim.
I’m not comfortable with identifying with my legal last name – good thing I’m not trying to keep from being exposed to an obsessive abuser, or be easily reached with business-related requests. Good thing it’s not necessary for me to maintain a personal – professional boundary like with doctors to patients or teachers to students.
Facebook’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox over a year ago claimed, “Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life.”
Which means 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. And despite using their nicknames or pseudonyms, users are getting locked out of their accounts, sometimes with no opportunity to return. The policy is clearly harmful and causing many to lose connection.
They decided that I’m not “authentic,” and denied me any process of appeal to have my name changed back to the only name that I’ve been publicly known as for the past five years. What Facebook has done is created a system that forces compliance or isolation.
Moreover, they allow users to report each other for “fake names,” and by doing this, even while better options exist to report harassment or actual identity fraud, Facebook’s policy gives cyberbullies an extra tool to harass vulnerable users simply for being themselves.
Google plus publicly apologized for doing the same thing. They now admit it was wrong to require real names and apologized for taking so long, causing “unnecessarily difficult experiences for some of our users.”
mynameisme.org has a collection of people who support “your freedom to choose the name you use on social networks and other online services.” They filled it with powerful testimonials and discussions of why a person might want to keep their online persona (or personas) separate from their real-life identity. Check it out!
The Hamburg Data Protection Authority said Facebook cannot enforce its “real name” policy in Germany by changing a user’s chosen name to their legal name or demanding users hand over official ID. They argued that making people on Facebook use their real names violates their rights to privacy. I agree.
The real trouble to me is that they claim to believe that the trolling and harassment problem is “solved” by an inherently bigoted and discriminatory policy. Let me just say, I don’t think Facebook’s policy is motivated by bigotry or a desire to discriminate. But the outcome is a public relations disaster and it must be changed.
The real irony is that this is not even an effective system. Trolls can still open fake Facebook accounts by using fictitious names that sound “normal.” And there are plenty of examples of Facebook users engaging in hateful behavior under their real names.
Furthermore, Facebook has not yet provided any data to back up its arguments, including that “people are much less likely to try to act abusively towards other members of our community when they’re using their real names.”
You should not be REQUIRED to release any personal information about yourself on the internet. What kind of backwards “protection” is that? I personally feel exposed and insecure. What is the real reason they are making us send in our ID’s?
I don’t want to be someone who objects and gives zero suggestions… So along with the #MyNameIs campaign, I suggest that Facebook develop an alternate system – like an expansion of its Trusted Contacts program or photo verification similar to Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything” series – that would promote accountability (and screen out spam and bots) without relying on personal identification.
As one of the world’s predominant communications platforms with nearly 1.5 billion users, Facebook DOES has a responsibility to ensure that it’s not silencing well-intentioned users. And as its users, we have a responsibility to demand change. Take responsibility!
Even the American Civil Liberties Union argues that Facebook has become the modern equivalent of the town square, which historically has been the place where people went to converse and exercise their right to speak freely. By imposing barriers to entry—and blatantly excluding some people—Facebook is limiting freedom of expression. But you have to wonder if Facebook really wants to be seen as an opponent to free speech..
So let’s cut through the confusion and make things perfectly clear: it’s time for Facebook to be accountable to its community and abolish this policy once and for all.
Sincerely,
Bluerock.
PS – I love what RuPaul said about it: “In showbiz, there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right. But it’s bad policy when Facebook strips the rights of creative individuals who have blossomed into something even more fabulous than the name their mama gave them.”