I’m not everybody’s cup of tea.
Wait. I didn’t learn that while in Facebook Jail. I already knew that no one is everyone’s cup of tea, and not all personalities mesh before Zuckercorn’s moneymaker put me in time out. People like different types of music, food, movies, and most importantly to this piece, jokes.
People find different things funny.
So if you don’t find what I’m about to post amusing, that’s OK.
But, is what I’m about to post so horrific that it warrants an entire website to protect users from it? Facebook says the picture you’re about to see violates their “Community Standards.”
Those standards include a laundry list of things that make sense including (but not limited to):
- Violence and Criminal Behavior
- Credible Violence
- Integrity and Authenticity
- Coordinating Harm
However, there’s an item near the bottom of their list that stands out:
- Objectionable Content
The problem with calling something “objectionable” is that everyone objects to something.
Or, said slightly differently, everyone is offended by something.
There are the things we should all object to: racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia… But when you get into policing content, there are problems. some people are offended by nudity, others are not. Some people have a dark sense of humor, others do not.
And so on down the line.
People are different.
I was banished for the following photo.
Is it objectionable content? Facebook says so, but without giving reason. It doesn’t contain violence, hateful language, or nudity (male chest aside, which is so innocuous it can be shown in a G-Rated Disney movie).
There is a joke in there, yes, and maybe you personally don’t like the subject matter. But is it more objectionable than, say, Alex Jones? He has a Facebook page, and I find it hard to find a single thing he says that isn’t just plain awful.
Likewise ISIS.
A May 6, 2018 report on Gizmodo points out that terrorists still use Facebook to coordinate with one another. Likewise white supremacists, and other hate groups. They’re all on Facebook, while I was booted for a joke.
And, mind you, not a joke at anyone’s expense.
This wasn’t an attack on a religion or group; this wasn’t anything hateful that then tries to get explained away with the eye-rolling response, “It was just a joke.” If it had been an attack, or at the expense of a race, religion, gender, or orientation, then you cannot explain it away with “Lighten up, it was just a joke.”
That doesn’t work.
This is simply about taste: some people will find it amusing, others will not. When you censor taste/preference, you’re heading into dangerous territory.
Right now, Facebook is spending millions of dollars to advertise that it’s “returning to what made Facebook great in the first place.” All this comes on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where it was exposed that Facebook isn’t really about connecting people, it’s about collecting data, and selling said data.
Here’s the problem with Facebook’s return to “awesome:” everyone on Facebook is a user, not a customer.
That’s an important distinction.
Customers receive customer service; they have a say in where they take their business. Facebook, on the other hand, actively does not want to hear from users. In fact, they have absolutely zero in the way of customer service. Facebook has no 800 number, no chat function, no anyone on standby to answer questions or field complaints. Zuckercorn and his crew don’t have to answer to anyone; the site is unregulated, and is allowed to operate carefree.
They exist to sell data to advertisers, and it is our decision to use their platform.
Again, important distinction: a platform we use.
We don’t purchase Facebook, we use it. Under Facebook’s terms, rules, and regulations.
So if you need help, you can file a request, but it will go unread. I sent three requests asking for clarification regarding my banishment. It’s been over 30 days, and I have yet to receive a response.
Here’s an example of how poorly Facebook “customer service” works.
Like anyone, I receive numerous fake friend requests over the course of a year. I’ll click on them to see if they’re real people, and the first thing I’ll see is a picture of a scantily-clad woman with the text “Click HERE to see my REAL pics.”
There’s always a link to pornography.
I used to report these profiles. They clearly violate the Facebook terms of service and content codes, and I don’t like spam friend requests from pornbots. When I’d get a request, I’d click a couple of buttons and sic the Facebook Police on them.
I stopped reporting those profiles, however, because Facebook kept finding them legitimate.
My inbox currently has a half-dozen automated messages that state as much. “We looked over the profile you reported, and though it doesn’t go against one of our specific Community Standards, we understand that the profile or something they shared may still be offensive to you.”
The message always goes on to explain how if I don’t want to see the porn that fake profile is spamming, I can block it.
So, when handed pornography on a platter, when a red flag is raised and waved in front of their face, “Hey, this is porn. Right here, on your site,” the Facebook Police demur to act. If people note that a raving lunatic is saying Sandy Hook was a hoax, that’s “their right to free speech.”
But if someone reports a joke because they don’t like it, Facebook springs into action and I get banned.
I said everyone is offended by something, and that’s what offends me: double standards and hypocrisy.
I’m offended by a platform that uses the phrase “Objectionable Content” as an umbrella term. “Objectionable” becomes a replacement term for “I don’t like that,” which is capricious at best, and controlling at worst. That’s what offends me.
That, and, of course the lack of any user support or customer service.
So, what did I learn while banished?
I discovered that I didn’t miss Facebook all that much.
Oh, I’m not going to get all huffy and say I’ll never use the platform again, and that being off Facebook made me a better person, that I lost twenty pounds and cured cancer. That’s nonsense usually spewed by blowhards.
I simply discovered that the further I got away from Facebook, the less I cared about it.
And that should frighten Zuckercorn.
Not the idea of him losing me, specifically, but the thought people can discover they can spend less time on his platform and be OK with it.
The more people banned by the Facebook police, becomes fewer normal users of the platform. After we’re gone, all that’ll be left are ISIS, Alex Jones, and white supremacists.
What a great place Facebook will be then.
UPDATE: This news article hit the web several hours after I posted my blog. Turns out I’m not alone. My blog is nothing, but $16 billion? Zuckercorn will notice that, I’m sure.
Enjoy my rambling? There are books aplenty full of it on Amazon.
Can you post this – sans photo, of course – on FB? Ok if I mention this, ironically, on my FB?
This is how revolutions begin.
Thank you.
Done and done.
:)
https://www.facebook.com/nathantimmel/posts/10156503252134451
Well…. I just received a 30 day ban for posting a picture of the Brady Bunch family portrait which showed Cindy Bradley with a KKK hood over her head……
Well that seems unfair. But, then again, when has Facebook ever been fair?
I want to know where I go to find how much time I have left to serve.
I was put in fb jail for 30 days sharing an existing post on someone’s fb page!!! I was immediately notified that what I posted was against their standard regardless of the fact the post was shared from an existing post. Seems to me entrapment or selective jail time for certain people.
Facebook really is the worst. I’m in Facebook Jail AGAIN, because I was discussing video games with friends, and Grand Theft Auto Vice City came up.
Facebook extrapolated a comment out of context and banned me.
Their algorithm blows, and they have zero customer service.
And, for the record, I have gotten in trouble for EXACTLY what you described: sharing an already posted post.
I had my post flagged on FB Marketplace because I was trying to sell old dishware.
Part of the message they sent to me was “prohibited items include drugs, firearms, live animals”…
ITS DISHWARE *punches wall* YOU IDIOTS.
And of course there was no way to appeal this process.
Maybe Facebook will be forced to get their crap in gear if they get enough bad publicity for things like this.
Dude, exact same thing happened to my wife. She was selling clothes. Shorts for a four-year-old boy. No markings on them, just plain shorts, and she got the same message.
Un-be-fucking-lieveable.
My cousin keeps getting thrown in Facebook Jail for posting pictures of the American Flag and saying “God Bless America”. Apparently, Facebook is anti-America
What’s funny is: as you wrote your comment, I was in Facebook Jail again myself.
One of my black friends posted something I found funny, so I said so on his post, and I referred to the people he was making fun of as “white trash.”
Well, that got Facebook’s algorithm all upset, and I was told that using “white trash” constitutes hate speech.
Yup.
They are getting beyond ridiculous. I got put in Facebook jail for 3 days for using the word tranny.. really friggin tranny. I heard Mark Zuckerberg like to put people in Facebook jail and then rape them in the shower. LOL.
I hear you. I was just banned for 30 days for calling someone “tater head.” It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. I have two accounts and I’m going to delete both of them….see how things work out. I’m frigging sick of FB allowing racist rants and memes, violence, adult and child porn, white supremacy, etc., when I get busted for calling someone “tater head.” I also got busted for saying “white trash”, and once for reposting a meme.
Oh yeah… I got a several day ban for “white trash” as well. Facebook has the idea that the best kind of enforcement is arbitrary and heavy-handed. It’s bullshit.
I’m banned and have no idea why. Can’t sign on or even look at it. And I can’t even ask them why. I think I have a few liberal trolls who reported me for posting conservative posts. None are hateful, or rude, or offensive. (Well, maybe it offended them just because I love Trump) I’ve been in jail twice for 24 hrs. Just couldn’t post. This time, I can’t even sign into it. Not sure if it’s temp or permanent.
Well, if you can’t sign in, that sounds like a glitch. When you’re in Facebook jail, you’re allowed to sign in, but right away you get a notice stating that while you can look at things, you’re not allowed to comment or like anything. Did you get that notification when you did get your 24-hour bans? Because if you didn’t get one this time, then it’s probably just Facebook being stupid.
Got banned for using my business name. Mind you, it has my real name in it too. Plus my real email. Can’t even access my fan/business account either It’s all under review but it doesn’t say how long it will be.
Ugh, sorry to hear it. When they say “under review,” they mean “it’s on the backburner, and we’ll get to it when we get to it. Right now we’re busy selling your information to advertisers.”
Best of luck to you; this has to suck.
I said “white trash cousin” and got flagged. Banned for 30 days for it being my second time to use it. Never mind that my WT cousins say “nig—-” (but they spell it out) and share porn
Jesus. Zuckercorn’s crack team of shitheads really all deserve severe cases of anal warts.
facebook jail situation can be avoided if users take care of what they post to share , keep eye on the content of the post and don’t post so rapidly
Lol, not true, but thanks for trying.