Bye Facebook

As many of you know, I’ve decided to delete my Facebook profile.  There are a variety of reasons why I’ve taken this step.  The straw that broke the camel’s back was their refusal to accept an ad for a movie about three lesbians, ostensibly because it violated their terms of service with respect to advertising.  The ad itself is extremely tame, especially when compared to many other ads on FB (a fact pointed out by the web site linked above).  Facebook eventually capitulated and reversed the rejection, but the entire incident speaks to the way Facebook and its idiot staff run the place.

It’s not just that, though.  Facebook’s administrators have deleted numerous accounts, including those of many sex workers and porn stars.  And, granted, many of these folks may have violated FB’s terms of service regarding the types of photos they’ve put up, but in many cases, I know for a fact the material they’ve posted is not anywhere near so extreme as to justify having months or even years of work pissed out the window.  I had my original FB account deleted without any notice whatsoever.  In my current account, I’ve had a dozen or so photos deleted because they “violate [their] terms of service.”

This is interesting to me because I’ve gone out of my way to keep from posting anything that might be offensive to anyone or that might show too much skin or anything akin to that.  Nothing I’ve put in my profile there showed as much skin as what you’d see on any beach in the United States.  Nothing.  Yet, from time to time, I get these stupid little notices threatening to delete my account again because I am violating their TOS.  It’s even more interesting because all of the ones that have been deleted were posted when I first created the account, so, at least theoretically, when the pervs who cruise through user accounts have gone in and removed one, the others should’ve stood out the first time through.  Regardless, it’s a fucking pain in the ass to have to walk on eggshells to satisfy some fuckwit moderator’s subjective determination as to what’s out of bounds, and who gets to delete my work without any need for justification whatsoever.  If they delete a photo, you get a notice, but they don’t tell you why they deleted it.  Fuck that.  They are a private enterprise and can do what they want, but I sure as fuck don’t have to participate, and I no longer will.

It’s interesting to me when people raise the specter of government censorship.  I’ve long held the opinion that government censorship is not an issue to us much any more because we have those who comprise the substantial infrastructure of the Internet censoring what we say and do to begin with.

Take Google, for example.  I don’t use Google as my search engine any longer.  Why not?  They believe that the word clitoris is a dirty, nasty word that will corrupt the minds of children.  That’s right, the medically accurate term for an anatomical feature on a woman is a naughty word and needs to be censored lest we pollute the minds of the young people.  When you put your Google search into “safe mode” (as you might for your child) and search for penis, you get millions of results.  When you search for clitoris, though, guess how many you get?  Not one fucking result. I could understand pussy, cunt, or any of the other euphemisms for the woman’s naughty bits being handled that way, but the legitimate medical term for it?  Fuck you.  So I’m not using Google again until they change that ridiculous bullshit.  Google also caved in and acquiesced to China’s insistence that they censor what their people can see, as opposed to doing the right thing and saying they wouldn’t help the Chinese intentionally restrict information.  Google is complicit in the suppression of a people as I see it.

The bullshit we went through with Amazon a few weeks ago is another good example.  While the mouthpieces at Amazon say it was a “glitch,” well know that is fucking bullshit.  Glitches don’t affect material specifically aimed at gays and lesbians, womens’ reproductive health, and books about feminist issues.  Unless and until Amazon comes clean with a legitimate explanation and an apology, I’m not buying anything from them again.  I’ve bought hundreds of books and other items through their web site, and I’ll be forced to pay more for many things I buy now, but I am not going to support a company that actively works to censor what people are able to find when they’re looking for books and materials on specific topics.

There are other examples (PhotoBucket deletes “naughty” photos, even if you have your albums set to private where no one can see them), but I don’t feel like wading through all of them.  Some of it is just getting absolutely ridiculous.

At any rate, back to my original rant about Facebook, it’s not so much that I hope to engender some kind of response from them or get them to change their policies or the way they’re implemented because I know they don’t give two shits.  I just don’t give a fuck and am not going to deal with a place who’s business practices I think are a bit more than unreasonable.  So, goodbye Facebook.

I know some of you followed me on FB and I’m sorry for any inconvenience.  Feel free to friend me on MySpace (If you add me on MySpace, include a note that you’re adding me from reading my blog – it’ll get you added faster), and of course, I spend a lot of time on Twitter as well.  See you there. 

No related posts.

Tagged as: Amazon, censorship, Facebook, Google