The Day Facebook Banned Me

On July 21 Facebook reached 500 million users. This social network’s record stands as a historic moment in the digital era. Half a billion citizens, about 8 percent of the world population, enjoy information innovation for worldwide exchange. Globalization’s positive aspects have shone through here.

This global success must not make us forget the dangers of these types of communication platforms and the absence of user rights. American President Barack Obama warned Americans of these dangers: “First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who, you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search.”

Today, many employers research job candidates. They Google them before hiring. Of course, life without Facebook is possible, but it must be understood that this platform facilitates communication with friends and communities and allows you to meet new people. The Net that used to be associated with dehumanization and antisocial “addicts” allows, thanks to Facebook, the blossoming of new social relations. Superficial or sincere, these relationships aren’t too different from real world ones.

Facebook is at the heart of online life, a sort of “second life” that has touched hearts through its ease of use and its “News Feed” that allows true interactivity. Facebook is a network that keeps you in touch with those who are important to you.

However, Facebook remains a zone in which rights do not exist, for its users in particular. I personally can remark on its scorn for fundamental legal principles, such as the notion of abuse of rights. July 22, just as every other morning, I tried to access my profile. Catastrophe! My account had been brutally deactivated.

Impossible to access were my means of accessing my list of friends, my photo albums, my publications, or even the ability to chat online, and I found myself cut off from my community and deprived of my means of communication — all by the decision of an administrator. Without violating anything, without a single warning, and, above all, without a single real and serious motive, my Facebook account, which I had cared for for years and which contained my 887 friends, was deactivated.

Too many “pokes” and too many friend requests, too many articles posted? Maybe. Facebook does not like activists. Facebook prefers to prevent any violation of the authors’ rights by deactivating accounts without taking the care to verify and control the reality of the yet-to-happen violations. Meanwhile, entirely on the contrary, Facebook is scared when it comes to the protection of privacy.

The deactivation of a Facebook account is the equivalent of banishment; in theory, the account is not deleted and can be reactivated, but no button automatically allows it. According to its own site, the Facebook administrators submit statements affirming, without proof, that Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities has been violated and that their decision to deactivate is irreversible. A long journey brings many divested “Facebookians” to this message “Your account has been disabled by an administrator. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.”

The relationship between the citizen of Facebook and the society of Facebook is limited to either accepting policy or not, such as their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, revised April 22, after which people were up in arms against the policy of total ownership that Facebook wanted to impose. This freedom gave Facebook the right to the images and contents of its users.

The Facebook network is still being built, and it must improve its privacy protection and fight pedophilia and racist groups; it is essential that these moral imperatives be taken into account. In English, youth between 13 and 18 years of age will be able to install a button on their profile — “ClickCEOP” — a device that allows them to signal any adult trying to make contact with the minors.

Facebook has reinforced its policy of permitting its users to limit their profiles by adjusting “privacy settings.” Facebook must allow reactivation of wrongly deactivated accounts without the “Facebookian” having to face the Santa Clara, Calif. tribunal.

In effect, Article 16 of the General Conditions indicates, “You will resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute (“claim”) you have with us arising out of or relating to this Statement or Facebook exclusively in a state or federal court located in Santa Clara County. The laws of the State of California will govern this Statement, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located in Santa Clara County, California for the purpose of litigating all such claims.”

Facebook users have one single legal channel, but this is so complicated and painful that many just give up. We are all citizens of the Facebook world — until a robot or an administrator decides otherwise, that is. Facebook enforces its unfair conditions through its monopoly.

Of course, it is still possible to create an account, but this procedure is tiresome and does not prevent another deactivation. But, as it stands, it seems that this procedure is the fastest and most effective.

Mark Zuckerberg, supreme governor of the social network, must address this rights abuse by training Facebook administrators to reactivate the accounts of erroneously deactivated and banished “Facebookians.” It’s time for Marl Zuckerberg to respect the users of his invention, and soon.