THE RAINBOWS ARE FADING AWAY
Last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision was met with a great response of support from all over. Facebook, the social media powerhouse, even released a tool that will add a rainbow cast to your profile picture. Now, a less popular Facebook policy among users is becoming a problem for the company. Mark Zuckerberg has put out a statement in regards to this issue. The problem with Facebook’s name policy is quite simple- Facebook doesn’t allow anyone to use adopted names, a policy which puts users, especially members of the LGBT community, at risk for potential harassment and violence. Zuckerberg says that there was too much confusion over what the policy really is.
FACEBOOK SAYS ‘YOUR REAL NAME ISN’T YOUR LEGAL NAME’
He says that your real name does not necessarily mean your legal name. Whatever you go by and what your friends call you is considered your real name. However, you must still prove what your legal name is to Facebook, which is where the problems come in.
This isn’t the first time that Facebook has been under fire for their real names policy. The confusion surrounding this real names policy is bringing a lot of unwanted attention to Facebook. In October of last year, they apologized to the LGBT community for “the hardship that we’ve put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks”. They then promised to develop a better system to review accounts that are reported as fake.
Some are in support of this policy and others are very upset about this. Those in favor of this policy say that this real names requirement is existent to protect Facebook users. In attempts to create a safer community, this ‘real names’ policy lowers the likelihood of users acting abusive towards others.
FACEBOOK IS WORKING TOWARDS A SOLUTION
Facebook is attempting to become friendlier to the LGBT community and working towards less complicated ways to prove what their real name is, while also keeping the policy in place to protect the members of the Facebook community.
Here is the Facebook Help Center page regarding the real name policy and what names are accepted by Facebook.
