A group of protesters that included members of the LGBT community, Native Americans and domestic violence survivors gathered outside Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters Monday to protest the social network’s controversial “real name” policy.
Under the long-standing policy, Facebook can suspend accounts reported as using a name other than the one listed on that user’s birth certificate.
Monday’s protesters were members of the #MyNameIs coalition — including Sister Roma, from well-known San Francisco drag group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Sister Roma was one of the one of the first to call out Facebook’s policy last fall, after getting locked out of her account. Many other drag performers and transgender people reported the same situation as well.
Raising the issue on social media under the #mynameis hashtag led to a meeting last Octoberbetween the Transgender Law Center and Facebook to discuss the policy.
In a lengthy apology weeks later, Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox chalked up the incident to one user who reported several hundred accounts belonging to drag performers and transgender people.
But the coalition said Facebook has been slow to act on their behalf, which is why they organized Monday’s protest.
“Having people use their authentic names helps protect our community from dangerous interactions, like when an abusive ex-boyfriend impersonates a friend to harass his ex-girlfriend, or a high school bully uses a fake name to post hateful comments about a gay classmate,” wrote Justin Osofsky, Facebook vice president of global operations, and Monika Bickert, head of global product policy in a post on Monday.
Still, Facebook has updated the policy since last fall to address the coalition’s concerns. It now allows Facebook users in the U.S. to sign into their accounts while they verify or update their name, and expands the options that blocked users can choose from to verify their authentic name.
“We believe these changes will allow us to provide a better experience for everyone who uses Facebook, and ensure all members of the community can use the names that they use in real life, without sacrificing the safety that is important to us all,” Osofsky and Bickert added.
Source: mashable.com