Posted on 09/18/2014 10:09:17 AM PDT by Red Badger
San Francisco drag queens are sparring with Facebook over its policy requiring people to use their real names, rather than drag names such as Pollo Del Mar and Heklina. But the world's biggest social network is not budging from its rules.
In recent weeks, Facebook has been deleting the profiles of self-described drag queens and other performers who use stage names because they did not comply with the social networking site's requirement that users go by their "real names" on the site.
On Wednesday, Facebook declined to change its policy after meeting with drag queens and a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors. The company said is usually deletes accounts with fake names after investigating user complaints.
"This policy is wrong and misguided," said Supervisor David Campos, who was flanked by seven drag queens during a press conference at San Francisco City Hall.
The drag queens and others in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community say many Facebook account holders fear using their real names for a variety of reasons, including threats to their safety and employment.
"I have crazy family members who I don't want contacting me through Facebook," said a self-described drag queen who calls herself Heklina.
Facebook said it temporarily restored hundreds of deleted accounts for two weeks. After that they'll have to either change their name to their real name, or convert their profile to a fan page.
Campos and the drag queens, led by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence - a San Francisco group of drag performers and activists that's been around since 1979 - say they plan another meeting with Facebook and are hopeful that the company will ultimately alter its policy.
If Facebook doesn't change its policy, the drag queens at San Francisco City Hall Wednesday said they would organize protests and boycotts.
"Abused women, bullied teens, transgender people... (there are) a million different people with a million different reasons to use fake names," said Sister Roma, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Facebook says it policy "helps prevent bad behavior, while creating a safer and more accountable environment."
The company says performers and others have other ways of keeping their stage identities on the site, including creating pages that are meant for businesses and public figures.
Many in the drag queen community are professional performers who rely on Facebook to publicize gigs. They said a fan page isn't the same as a regular Facebook page.
"Your reach is limited, said Rosa Sifuentes, a San Francisco-based burlesque performer who goes by the name Bunny Pistol.
The company's policy has been around just about as long as Facebook itself.
This isn't the first time users have criticized Facebook's policy.
Political activists have complained, especially those living in countries where they could face danger if their real identities are revealed. In 2011, Chinese blogger and activist Michael Anti, whose legal name is Zhao Jing, had his profile deleted because he was not using his given name - even though his professional identity has been established for more than a decade and is better known. Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, has "merged" her stage name with her birth name on Facebook in an apparent compromise.
It's not always easy to determine which names are inauthentic. Some people whose real names sound fake have had their accounts deleted, too.
For Facebook, the real names policy is not just meant to keep people accountable. The company and other website operators argue that requiring people to use true identities can reduce online vitriol and bullying. Real names also help Facebook target advertisements to its 1.32 billion users.
Facebook estimates that 6 to 11 percent of its monthly user accounts were duplicate or fake in 2013.
"We believe the percentage of accounts that are duplicate or false is meaningfully lower in developed markets such as the United States or United Kingdom and higher in developing markets such as India and Turkey," Facebook wrote in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "However, these estimates are based on an internal review of a limited sample of accounts and we apply significant judgment in making this determination, such as identifying names that appear to be fake or other behavior that appears inauthentic to the reviewers."
What about all the actors in H’Wood that make up stage names?................
There are dangerous predators on Facebook using fake names, and Facebook has done absolutely nothing about them.
Even when presented with direct evidence.
Facebook is Evil!
“pollo del mar”= chicken of the sea. what a good stage name!
/sarc>
CC
Do we really have to say it?
I guess I will say it.
Is it really a legitimate function of government, to get involved in how a company such as Facebook manages its business? Do we really need the SF County Board of Supervisors involved with drag queens who want to use fake names on an internet site such as Facebook???
Do drag queens really have a constitutional right to use their stage names on Facebook???
Smells fishy...............
I want to watch while a thousand angry drag queens descend on FB HQ in protest...................
Maybe the facebook posters day job is a piano tuna.
CC
Yes, you can tuna piano, but you can’t tuna fish................
“I have crazy family members who I don’t want contacting me through Facebook,”
Ummm, they’re the crazy ones???!?!?!?!?!
Crazy is relative.................
((rimshot))
CC
The reason for this is simple. Follow the money. Facebook (evil incarnate) wants your real name as it makes your data, which they are selling right and left, more valuable.
Think about this the next time you post on Facebook: what am I giving to these people that will make my data more valuable?
My suggestion: give them nothing.
I have two facebook accounts. One is me.
The other is a guy I completely fabricated for the sole purpose of using that account to make comments on internet news articles. And never shall the two meet.
The latter graduated from a large urban high school and then graduated from a large medium quality college and now works in a large company in another part of the country.
Key word is “large”. That way anyone from those places that see him on facebook can believe they just never met him since it is a “large” place.
When he first set up his account, he lamented on the closing of a certain specialized store that recently closed in his hometown and how he remembered going there as a kid, etc, etc. He occasionally posts something innocuous. He accepts ALL friend requests but NEVER responds to anyone and never asks to friend someone. He actually has more facebook friends than me.
One comical note. I mentioned it was an URBAN high school in the US. Well, most of his friends post in a foreign language. I used google translate to find out they are in...swahili. :-D
Hell, no one else gives their real name on facebook (I certainly don’t). So,why should drag queens be singled out for this? I’m with the drag queens on this one!
I thought these idiots were proud of their pastimes and lifestyle choices. Should their true identities and passions not be celebrated on SOCIAL media?
When the article quoted one the queens they were referred to as a female. Dressing in women’s clothing does not make one a woman. That gives me an idea though, panties that will help mask the presence of man parts, a person could make lots of money from that perversion.
What makes it think they would even try?
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