User Advocacy and Social Media Reform
Today, one of the stories featured on NPR’s All Things Considered addressed the account issues that Facebook users are experiencing. The story, which has an accompanying written version, exposed the experiences of several Facebook users who had discovered that their accounts had been hacked, and struggled to get in contact with the company’s user support … Read more
The core problem with the Facebook platform really has to do with its automated moderation and lack of user support. It would be ideal to solve both of these issues, but if they could fix at least one it would still be an improvement. Facebook’s AI has been tasked with detecting violations of the platform’s … Read more
On this Wednesday, August 18, I am going to be holding the first of what I hope will be a series of weekly video chats during which anybody who wants to discuss the problems with Facebook can join in. My goal will be to go live for about 30 minutes during which I’ll give some … Read more
Tonight as I was thinking about my current predicament with Facebook, I was reminded of an episode of “Gilligan’s Island” where Gilligan becomes the group’s lawman, but he follows the law so rigidly that he ends up jailing everybody for random violations. Finally, everybody is in jail except for him, and of course he ends … Read more
A comment posted by /u/1980XS1100 on Facebook in response to a post which was meant to be a joke has been flagged. When the user appealed, Facebook rejected the appeal. The user’s response was, “You sent a motor to the scraps??? You animal.” This is one of many stories that have been shared by Facebook … Read more
I’ve been quiet on the site and all of the other platforms because I’ve been going through a job change. My new position deals heavily with marketing, so I went ahead and started a brand-new account on Facebook. It still tears me up inside thinking that all of those photos and memories that I posted … Read more
To: disabled@fb.com, appeals@fb.com . June 16, 2021 . Subject: Request for appeal of deactivated account . To Whom It May Concern, . A couple of weeks ago, my account was disabled following an intrusion into a page that I manage. I am not sure how this individual gained access to the page, but I suspect … Read more
As I’ve shared that my account was disabled by Facebook, I’ve heard three different kinds of reactions. The first was some sympathy, but not a lot of hope. Something along the lines of, “Well, that’s too bad, but good luck getting it back.” It’s as if I lost my wedding ring at a restaurant, and … Read more
Today, I wanted to share a different perspective on Facebook. It started out as something fun, but now it is a necessity, much like a utility. But, we would never expect our electricity company to turn off our power abruptly and without explanation if they disapproved of how we talked in our home, or how we dressed. Social media is different, of course, but no less of a detriment if we lose our access.
In today’s post, I explored the idea that Facebook should be considered a utility. And, if we can’t change how the social network handles moderation, then all we can do is change our own behavior by taking a few extra steps each year to backup our data.
This weekend, I signed a petition on Change.org which asks Facebook to revise their moderation procedures. The petition can be found here. I’ll also add it to the resources page, and the sidebar.