algorithmic prejudice

About a week or two ago, I made my THIRD attempt at returning to Facebook.  When my account was first deleted a couple years ago for “severe community violations,” I’d never sworn, insulted, or otherwise denigrated anyone.  I’d never had a single temporary ban or even warning of any kind.  Ever. (In prior months, I’d spoken out as powerfully as I knew how to about vaccines, providing solid links from the CDC themselves, but this was even before it was possible for them label something as questionable content, or whatever it is, and long before the covid vax came out, so it wasn’t even really the hot topic it later became.)

Anyway, they must have a pretty pointed algorithm at work, because I made my new account with a different e-mail address (specifically and annoyingly made just so I could have the best chance possible) and friended less than half a dozen people.  No posts, no pictures, no shares… not even any friend requests accepted when I logged off.  Then I ran to the gym, did errands, etc., and when I came back to continue friending people on my new account, they’d already kicked me back off.  All they had to go off of was that I had the same first and last name (no maiden, like I had before) and the few friends I’d chosen.  No proof.  Just suspicion, but that was enough.  They told me I could contest it, which I did.  They wanted a phone number to send me a code that I could then give back to them; I suspect this was not to complete the process of contesting it, but just to link it to me.  At any rate, this was the message today: “You can’t use Facebook or Messenger because your account, or activity on it, didn’t follow our Community Standards.  We have already reviewed this decision and it can’t be reversed.  To learn more about the reasons we disable accounts visit the Community Standards.”  Yuck.

I have to assume that back when my account was first revoked, some human clicked a wrong button, and maybe I should’ve been given my first warning.  But I hadn’t even posted anything on my own wall in like a week or two when this all happened, so I feel pretty clueless.  (I had, however, written a very scathing comment about how Facebook has hired very skilled professionals from China who specialize in their social credit program and provided some good links.  This was HOT news but not well shared news at the time, and I do wonder if that could’ve played into it.) Knowing the thing about their social credit ties, I have no idea why I ended up actually sending them my phone number and a picture of my government issued ID as they requested in order to consider reinstating me.  Could you imagine a bigger red flag??? But I did it anyway.  I regret it thoroughly, whether or not I suffer any further known consequences of it.  That’s creepy as hell and whatever my legal name is has no bearing on whether or not I violated or did not violate any standards.  There was no reason for them to ask for it and no reason for me to give it.

But I did.

And I’m still kinda mad at myself for that one.

I’m sad I can never be known by my name on FB again, sad that I will have to perpetually hide under some pseudonym, always nervous that if I friend too many similar people they’ll pull the plug again.

And if you read this far, I don’t know why.  But thank you.