Facebook Real Names Policy Changed for Drag Queens
Facebook's real name policy has been softened Wednesday after an uproar from drag queens and members of the LGBT community who were upset that the performers had to use their real names. After hundreds of drag queens were flagged by a single account for being fake, Facebook asked the men to verify their identities, and when some of them refused, their accounts were changed or deleted without their consent.
Facebook's real name policy outlined in their terms and conditions required that users use their real names "as it would be listed on your credit card, driver's license or student ID." Because so many less-than-savory folks are flagged every day for violating the policy — it's estimated that over 1.32 billion of Facebook users are duplicates or dummy accounts — the few hundred drag queens that were flagged slipped underneath their radar.
There are a lot of "bad actors doing bad things," said Facebook product chief Christopher Cox, citing those engaging in "impersonation, bullying, trolling, domestic violence, scams, hate speech and more."
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When vocal opponents of the policy Sister Roma and Lil Miss Hot Mess began holding demonstrations about the incident, Facebook decided to allow them to sidestep the real name policy.
"The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess," Cox wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday. "There's lots of room for improvement in the reporting and enforcement mechanisms, tools for understanding who's real and who's not, and the customer service for anyone who's affected."
"I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks," he added.
A protest was to be planned at San Francisco city Hall Thursday and led by Sister Roma. It's now been changed to a victory celebration.
