Letter to Mark Zuckerberg: The Deeper Ramifications and Implications of Selective Social Media Censorship

Letter to Mark Zuckerberg: The Deeper Ramifications and Implications of Selective Social Media Censorship a.k.a Facebook Jail.

#BillionaireClapBack

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

We are tired.

Seriously.

I believe I speak for the millions of Face-book users worldwide who continue to regularly undergo the subjective process of being relentlessly, albeit, unnecessarily, monitored and censored, simply because they seek to connect with others around the world, or share eye-opening information that might be inaccessible elsewhere.

As I'm sure you are well aware, millions around the world refer to this process as 'Facebook Jail.' I just returned from this ‘social incarceration’ (for the 20^th time) as your social platform suspended my account again for another seventy-two hours for what it disingenuously deemed "posting content against FB community standards".

Social networking has been defined as the practice of expanding the number of one's business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals, often through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google. It is therefore sad to see it being alternatively used as a means to isolate, and punish those whose actions often amount to no more than simply sharing legitimate information (I have strived to list the instances where my account has been blocked or suspended below).

After I was suspended for posting this "display of sexual activity", I modified it to show other disingenuous images which FB had deemed acceptable

Updated comparison with 'acceptable' images

The general consensus, worldwide right now, is that your censorship team goes after, and targets certain groups of people who post content that focuses on social change; conscientious people who protest racism; intelligent people who draw attention to the historic inequalities which have given rise to white privileged supremacy, and some who continually educate others who are less informed on how to rectify social ills. The reality is that most of these speak to the systemic exploitation of others, by a certain segment in society, be it in politics, religion, education, finance, or other spheres. It is now common knowledge that the fastest way to draw the ire of the Face-book police is standing up for the rights of the common man, the disenfranchised poor, or people of color.

Is this what we have come to? When did we become a fascist state? Why are we denigrating communist countries like Russia, North Korea and Cuba for restricting freedom of speech when we are doing the same thing under the guise of democracy?

A social networking service is supposed to be an online platform that people use to build social networks or social relations with other people who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections, or narrow the divide between people of opposite views. If nothing else, it is meant to be a conduit through which people can primarily be educated, and informed.

It is becoming increasingly clear that your powerful platform has fallen woefully short of these egalitarian goals.

Look, I get it. There are some egregious imagery and posts that display gratuitous nudity, with blatant sexual organs displayed, or violence of a nature that may be seriously offensive to some, and at times you cover this up with a dark screen and a warning that it contains violent material. So why can’t you do the same with any other post which fall under these categories or “goes against FB community standards”?

In the process of becoming one of the most powerful and influential humans on the face of the planet, you have lost sight of the collective efforts of the one billion people who contributed to your meteoric ascension to that pinnacle.

By the time you were 27 years old, you had wined and dined with Prime Ministers, Popes and Presidents, who in their eagerness to curry your favor, continue to engage in two-faced duplicitous pandering to the owner of 28.2% of a social empire, now worth  $306.4 billion, but more importantly, one who owns, or has a controlling interest in over a hundred companies in the same field, that shape and influence the ways people communicate, the world over. You have access to the private information of a billion people. More than one billion people are active on Facebook. Another one Billion People now Use WhatsApp, the mobile messaging service that you acquired little more than two years ago in a deal valued at $19 billion. More than 100 million people use Instagram every month. These are staggering numbers. Your companies shape the manner in which people make their everyday decisions, and with those numbers comes great responsibility.

One of those responsibilities is acknowledging the root causes of poverty, war, and racism, amongst other injustices, and making sure you are not victimizing the downtrodden even further. I would like to think your motives aren’t just purely financial and self-serving. You have a lifetime opportunity to actually change the world for the better. Decisions you make, at times, determine what government regimes rise or fall, whose voices get to be heard, what fortunes are made, and what segments of society are uplifted.

Some portions of this I have taken the liberty of reposting from the last time your team suspended my account on September 4, just 3 months ago….oops, my bad, in between then and now my account was also blocked, on October 7, for posting about the Bangladesh genocide, courtesy of the British version of Manifest Destiny. Yes....these are indeed interesting times we live in....in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

This video showed a white Pastor in Africa whipping young African boys in order to make them convert to Christianity 

Is my conscientiously conscious, fact-finding research, the teaching and sharing of positive information such a bad thing? If redacting any information that enlightens others is the goal of your platform, then your work is cut out for you. You need not give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. When a powerful entity salivates at scapegoating a person, any reason, even the lack of a reason becomes a reason. So let's recap shall we? I have variously, in the past, been temporarily blocked or suspended, or my posts redacted, by FB for:

1). "Inviting people who I did not know to be friends on FB” (so much for making new friends on social media eh?), singling out my Japanese friends who were in an uproar over this. What you didn't know was that not only do I speak (and read and write) Japanese (as well as several other languages), I also know each and every of those persons I invited, personally, and actually met, took pictures and have gone out with, all the 400-odd Japanese friends I have on this site. Several years later, I'm still waiting for my deserved apology. #MultiLingualCulturalBlackFolkArePersonaNonGrata

2). For drawing attention to the actions of the FB censorship team. #SeeNoEvilHearNoEvilSpeakNoEvil (February 14, 2013)

3). Photo redacted from news post of U.S. military engagements around the world. #WePeaceLovingPeople (December 8, 2014)

4). "Typing too fast". Yep. You don't believe me. Check out the screenshot photos. I was blocked temporary from posting because I was...typing....too...fast. Really? #SpeedyGonzales

5). For posting satirical content which showed the ripped pants of an African soldier, in an effort to expose the ironic divide in pumping millions of dollars into the weaponry that is killing Africans, via units of AFRICOM-funded, guerrilla African troops but neglecting to feed them, or patch their camouflage pants adequately. #WhyAreWeReallyInAfrica

 

6). Several times, inexplicably, I have had dozens of my posted content removed without rhyme, reason, or explanation. #HeadScratcher

7). At least twice I have had content removed which FB said, "violated community standards" (again, what community?), before, ‘upon further review’, reversing this decision, and admitting that those posts did not, in fact, violate those standards. #MakeUpYoMind

8). Posting spam. (Apparently, if you post something more than once it is regarded as spam). It is redundant to suggest that a post that is shared too often violates your standards when the very function of a social media platform is to share information. I mean, correct me if I am wrong but what is the function of the share button then? It runs counter to the definition of a post “going viral”. You mean to tell me you reserve the hubris to claim a post has been going around for too long and thus define it as “spam” when you don’t like the social implications of that post? #DontRemindUsAgain

9). For posting about how the French government till this day, forces African Francophone nations to pay tithes to the tune of $500 billion, to the French government, for the privilege of having received their independence. #WeCantHaveFolksKnowingAboutEuropeanStrongArmRobbery (September 24, 2016)

10). For posting historical, and common, knowledge, about the history of the creation/separation of India and Pakistan as well as the Bangladesh massacre. #NotTaughtInOurSchools (October 7, 2017)

11). For posting a picture shrouded in darkness, supposedly depicting a couple in an embrace (which you interpreted as “sexual activity”). There were no body parts overtly exposed, no explicit vulgarity therein, in fact, I had just posted a story about a French restaurant with nude patrons that showed more supposed ‘nudity’. Really? #BlackPeopleCantHaveLove (December 13, 2017)

12). For posting a meme depicting three men blindfolded with the underpants of the man in front of them, turning in a mindless circle, entitled, “Politics”. #WeAreNumberOne

 

13). For posting my perceived opinion about the differences between conservatives and liberals in our society. #NoPoliticalDiscoursePlease

14). For posting a GoFundMe page intended to help fund a legitimate business. The erroneous FB charge of “this is bad content” effectively tanked my aspirations to acquire equipment for a legitimate, self-sufficient videography business. Refunding the meager $1000 I raised from the nine people who were kind and generous enough to believe in me is still on my bucket list. #ItsGottaBeTheNigerianPrinceSyndrome

15). For posting a video of a White pastor in Africa beating the life out of African children, in the attempt to convert them forcibly to Christianity. (June 4, 2017) #SpareTheRodAndCloudTheThinking

16). For posting historical information regarding lynching of Black people in America. (August 9, 2017) #WhatRacismItWasSuchALongTimeAgo

Mark…(may I call you Mark?), I don’t get it? Don’t you think there is something seriously wrong in a society that finds a silent, kneeling-in-protest, ex-San Francisco 49er Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, more offensive than the sight of a young Black boy with his head bashed in, shot two dozen times by law enforcement? Why is the latter promoted, preferred, and reinforced as acceptable, while there is such an outcry over the former? Don’t you think this deserves to be spoken out against?

 

We are existing in strange times indeed, where generations of Black females have been raped, tortured, massacred, mutilated and used as free labor, but this is more acceptable to the women’s liberation movement in particular and the American public in general, but when the plight of privileged people as victims of sexual harassment came to light, suddenly there was an outcry and uproar heard around the world.

We are living in interesting times indeed, in a society where those who speak out against these atrocities are victimized and put under a micro spotlight, sucked into the attraction of being part of the collective, and then punished by having those “privileges” yanked away from you.

So which leads me to believe that posting, on this social media site, any conscious material, meant to uplift the well-being of people of color, debunk the myth of white supremacy, reveal the international genocide which historically, has given impetus to the corporations that make their bread and butter by feeding the masses the "sheeple menu" pre-programmed, pre-packaged, false-narrative, double-standard, white privileged version of reality, is anathema to the overlords at Menlo park, secure in their myopic yuppie versions of alternative reality, inured to the true suffering of those who make it possible for their executives to makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year. A whitewash of history, designed to subjugate your sensibilities, insulate your senses, while simultaneously incorporating your labor into the modern day economic slave plantation commerce.

Are we not suffering enough?

We all watch in amazement as the torment, denigration, decimation, destruction, deaths, exploitation and the theft of the culture of people of color are allowed to be played in a loop, ad nauseaum, while clips showing the monstrous nature of Caucasian violence is carefully edited or censored. 90% of Americans have never heard of King Leopold of Belgium and his massacre of 15 million Congolese Africans, but they can sure tell you in detail about that one Nigerian shoe bomber. Why do we keep demonizing a particular group of people?

When will we catch up to, and cherish, respect and value the necessities of an equitable society, and stop this game of marginalization, blaming the victim while exploiting them steadily? When will our social media sites and news media organizations shed itself of the stench of bigotry that is revealed by its two-faced manner of dealing with selective posts? When will prophets of truth and messengers of reality cease to be targeted? When will the pattern of celebrating the excesses of exploitative culture vultures cease? Never? 

Somehow the ‘censor team’ at Menlo alternately approves video post after video post, depicting the worst antics of a small percentage of people of color, celebrating murder, incomprehensible mumbling, squalor, twerking, "rachetness" and other negative stereotypes meant to depict the entire race as unworthy of being, but positive posts showing positive aspects of our race are unduly scrutinized, and/or ‘accidentally’ omitted, and censored.

You get us hooked on your social media site, then try and use withholding participating in it to punish those of us who try and use it as a platform to eradicate racism, and further the cause of equality, under the guise of upholding community standards Exactly whose community standards? Can't you simply be content making your billions of dollars, profit which would not be possible without our collective participation, without the double standard of disingenuously censoring content containing positive messages of social equality while promoting the vapid and devious white privileged idiocy we continuously point out?

You already own Face-Book, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus VR, Ascenta, ProtoGeo Oy, Aboutface, Parakey, Connect-U, DivvyShot, Octagen, Friendster, ShareGrove, NextStop, ChaLabs Hot Potato, Drop.iO, RecRec, Beluga, Rel8tion, Friendfeed, Daytum. Snap2U, PushPropPress, Strobe, Friend.ly, Gowalla, Tagtile, MailRank, Glancee, Lightbox.com, Karma, Face.com, Spool, Acrylic Software, Threadsy, Atlas, Osmeta, Hot Studio, Spaceport, Parse, Monoidics, Jibbigo, Onavo, SportStream, Little Eye Labs, Branch, Liverail, Pryte, PrivateCore, WaveGroup Sound, Wit.ai, Quickfire, TheFind, Surreal Vision, Pebbles, Masquerade, Two Big Ears, and Nascent Objects, just to mention a few.

We have nothing. Doesn’t it even faze you that the median net worth for non-immigrant African-American households in the Greater Boston region is $8?

The bottom line is:

You can do better.

I am under no expectations or allusions that you will ever personally read this. In fact I will be amazed if you do. I expect that one of your minions, part of what is colloquially referred to as a "team" (and I use that term loosely) will skim through, and preemptively discard, it, not only because of its prohibitive value, but because if it ever went viral, it could cause not only a great deal of embarrassment to them but raise eyebrows at the motives and selectively discriminatory practices these “teams” engage in.

When you first started this platform as a student at Harvard and mocked potential users, as well as your own partners we forgave you. After all you were just 19 years old.

In one such IM message you joked about the amount of information users were submitting to your new website, ‘The Facebook’:

You: “Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard just ask. I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, and SNS.”

[Redacted Friend's Name]: “What? How'd you manage that one?”

You: “People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fu---."

As I said before, and as your accumulated wealth attests to, we forgave you and collectively contributed to your God-like ascension to the highest pinnacles of power.
You received funding from a C.I.A. shell corporation, In-Q-Tel, which in itself was questionable, but with what we know now about that company’s funding of Google, and many other companies, including PokeMon-Go, we have become blasé to the paranoia of our government.

When you engaged in a massive land grab from the legitimate owners in Hawaii, we forgave you. When you went to Africa and contributed to the brain drain afflicting the continent, we forgave you. After all, a few techie geniuses would benefit and possibly be in a position to have a better life in the U.S. while contributing to the enhancement of your many companies, right? Even when rumors of your company leaking personal information to the government surfaced, we forgave you.

You have become God-like in your omnipotence and when you sneeze, tsunamis are felt half the planet over. So I ask you, why are you punishing those who are simply trying to eke out a few mindless moments of happiness by communicating on your platform everyday? Why are your teams disingenuously blocking posts whose value stems from combating social injustice and disseminating positive information? It is a microcosm of the larger American society, where those who speak out are marginalized, victimized, and in extreme cases where they achieve a substantial following in the millions, assassinated.

More importantly, what is the use claiming that:
“We restrict the display of nudity” when that selectively means a sliver of side boob (when you really mean ‘….depending on the political persuasion of the person posting’)?

“Restrictions on the display of both, nudity, or sexual activity also apply to digital content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes” (when you are the arbiter of what how that satire is defined)?

“This looks like spam” (when we are on a social media platform being used by a billion people who are likely to share a particular post a million times…unless you just don’t want certain posts being shared too frequently)?

You can do better. But of course as we all know, you are now worth $73 billion, so we all know you are not going to read this, but if by some miracle you do, remember…

You can do better. 

Yours Sincerely,
29-time Farcebook Parolee.