Short Bytes: “Facebook thinks I’m a terrorist and froze my account,” a Sans Fransisco-based engineer said after she claimed to have had her Facebook account disabled due to her first name Isis. Read more to know about the incident in detail.
Earlier this week, a Sans Fransisco-based engineer Isis Anchalee took the route of Twitter to voice her opinions and brought this incident into the limelight. On Twitter, she wrote, “@facebook why would you disable my personal account? MY REAL NAME IS ISIS ANCHALEE /facepalm.”
She further adds in another tweet that Facebook thinks she’s a terrorist and froze her social media account. To gain back the access to her account, she sent Facebook a screenshot of her passport to prove that her birth name was Isis.
She was successful in the third attempt to regain her identity. Omid Farivar, a Facebook researcher, publicly tweeted to apologise. He wrote, “Isis, sorry about this. I don’t know what happened. I’ve reported it to the right people and we’re working on fixing it.”
It should be noted that Facebook asked people to refrain themselves from using names with not symbols, unusual characters, punctuation, religious or professional titles. Policies also ask the people to avoid “offensive or suggestive words of any kind” to their names to “keep our community safe”.
@isisAnchalee Isis, sorry about this. I don’t know what happened. I’ve reported it to the right people and we’re working on fixing it.
— omid farivar (@bromid) November 17, 2015
This appears to a case of confusion mixed with a little carelessness. We hope that Facebook will improve its screening policy before taking actions and respect the users with an authentic name on the social network.
Tell us your views in the comments below.
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