I am a big fan of social media. I have never bought into the self depreciating ideology that claims that the use of social media platforms “reduce” or “take away” from people living their lives. I’ve argued quite the opposite on numerous occasions. I think social media “enhances” our lives. Connects us in ways that were simply impossible in the past.

People that I would have absolutely lost contact with after high school are now a part of my life. I can see how they are doing, they can see how I’m doing. We can talk, laugh, share experiences that would have otherwise been missed. I’ve been more engaged with extended family then ever before prior to social media. I’ve met people and made friendships all across the globe. So for me, when I see someone posting, on social media, how “horrible” social media is, it kind of annoys me. The thought process just seems so incredibly ignorant. Like they’ve created in their minds some imaginary monster that forces them to stop living their life. It’s absurd. (Yes, I’ve seen the movie on Netflix: The Social Dilema. My thoughts on social media remain the same.)

Having said that, there is one feature on the largest social media network available currently, that is equally absurd. Facebooks “Community Standards” in regards to reporting and the infamous “FB Jail”.

Now maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always kind of envisioned the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, to be an incredibly intelligent guy. I know, I know, people say a lot of crap about him at times and he’s been the brunt of a lot of funny jokes; but that aside, I think it’s kind of hard to argue what he’s created with Facebook, is nothing short of brilliant. That’s what confuses me. How does a guy who’s so incredibly brilliant have a feature on his platform that is so incredibly absurd?

If you have spent ANY time on Facebook, you know it’s a place ripe with meme’s. People are posting tons and tons of hilarious memes. Every time a new event happens I’m looking for the latest memes. People love them. They are fun to post, fun to read, fun to banter on. Nothing quite gets the response of a lengthy thread like a well placed meme.

But did you know, that meme you found and re-posted on fb can get you thrown into FB Jail?

Yup. You may have seen it on FB, but if you re-post it on FB, you are now guilty of going against community standards, and can have your account temporarily disabled. Which means you can view FB, but you can’t “like” or comment or post to your wall.

At first I’m like, eh, I get it. You got to have some level of guidelines or the platform will fill up with spam or porn within a matter of hours. So ya, I understand the need behind having community standards. Until I got popped for a 24hr ban, then a three day ban, then a seven day ban, then I’m staring down the barrel of a 30 day stretch with the possibility of a permanent ban. Then I’m like wait…wtf?!

It’s not like I haven’t received warnings. I have. Absolutely. But the FB “bad boy” image doesn’t really have much weight, when you know that what you’re getting popped for wasn’t from you pushing the envelope or being a rebel. I’ve been warned and popped for stuff I’ve posted yeeeears ago. For real.

So imagine your sitting there, looking at a video of innocent kittens playing with a ball of yarn and suddenly you get this notification that pops up claiming you broke community standards for a post you posted back in 2003! (Someone check the date on that cause it’s wrong) Exactly. That’s insane, right? But it’s happened.

Or you’re engaged in a debate with someone; a friendly exchange of ideas, when suddenly you get a notification claiming that something you said was reported as hate speech. For real. You can “report” anonymously on FB; so basically if someone says something you don’t like, you can get them auto-banned and shut them up with a simple push of a button. For the longest time they didn’t even allow for an explanation or the ability to “disagree”. You just no longer were able to post; because some random person on FB that you may have never even met before and don’t even know decided to report you. For realz.

Now, I’d totally get it, IF the “Standards” were consistent. The problem is: They’re not. So, whether or not you actually broke “community standards” depends a lot on who they have doing the review. My latest FB Jail stint was from a meme I found on FB and re-posted showing Kamala Harris blowing Bidens name. I thought it was hilarious. FB claimed it was “hate speech” and I was given a 30 day ban. Hate speech. A meme. A mindless, intended to be funny, meme. I didn’t even create the meme. I just thought it was funny. I don’t hate Kamala or Biden. I don’t know either of them well enough to hate them. But i’ll be dammed if I’m not gonna have a laugh at their expense.

Meanwhile, actual “hate speech” is given a pass. Time and time again, story after story, I’ve heard people complaining of how FB has allowed people to wish death on people, tell people to “just kill themselves”, and a host of other things that just frankly Scoobies me how its even allowed. But you report it and you’ll get a notification claiming it’s been reviewed and doesn’t go against community standards. 

The process is absolutely insane. By far the worst thing about using Facebook. It is absurd; and totally unacceptable.

On the Facebook platform you have the ability to “delete” posts, “hide” posts, turn of notifications, “unfriend” people, “block” people, etc. You literally have a host of options available to you to tailor the content you see and who you engage with. The ability of people, who don’t even know you, to report you for something you have posted or said, essentially giving you an automatic ban is ridiculous. It simply should not be.

Now in my opinion, the person who reports your content should automatically be blocked from seeing your content. At least that way there is some form of “skin in the game” for people who like to report things. Right now, there is no consequence to reporting; and with the adherence to community standards being so arbitrary, people are being banned unnecessarily and without just cause.

I’m under no delusions. Facebook is the largest social media platform with over 2.7 billion active users worldwide. I do not expect my little blog or the three readers that view it to make an ounce of difference. However, this latest stint in FB jail has caused me to look into other social media platforms; and encouraged the thought that, maybe I should be spending more time building other forms of social media? And it’s caused me to pay a bit more attention to pieces of legislation like Section 230  .

Perhaps others will do the same. Perhaps in time, FB will put those brilliant minds together and discover a better process? Or perhaps, little by little, over time, people will grow other forms of social media and Facebook will eventually become like MySpace. 

Poor Tom…:(

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