Gawker: Why Is Facebook Blocking the Word 'Palestinian' in Page Titles?

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet tried to create a Facebook page for itself this weekend. Only, it wasn't able to do so—because Facebook won't let users create pages with the word "Palestinian" in the title.

Rex Brynen of the Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet went up against the same difficult-to-comprehend automated Facebook processes that got a Sarah Palin note taken down last week when he tried to create a page for the PRRN:

After contacting customer service and getting an automated reply, Brynen comes the conclusion that the only guideline his page name comes afoul of is that titles must "Not contain terms or phrases that may be abusive"—and the only term or phrase that gets consistently shot down is "Palestinian."

We tried too, and came up against the same problem. But here's the weird part: The words "Palestine" and "Palestinians" both make it through Facebook's filters with no problem, and "Palestinian" is fine for Facebook group titles. So it's not that Facebook is deliberately partaking in some worldwide anti-Palestinian conspiracy; rather, it appears that their automation process has decided to block the word "Palestinian"—and only the word "Palestinian"—from page titles—and only page titles."

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[Skittles]

1. when will this fucking Facebook fad be over?

[Electric Monk]

6. anyone remember geocities?

nt

[Skip Intro]

2. Facebook is riding a wave that will soon crash, and then the next one will rise.

I mean, I thought MySpace was lame. But Facebook - words fail me. It's a placeholder at best.

[Ross K]

4. Even now, MySpace > Facebook

And THAT's fuckin' sayin' something!

[murdoch]

3. Prisoner Ricardo Palmera

Ricardo Palmera is a Colombian guerrilla who the US had extradited to the US. He is being treated horribly - he has a torture device attached to him that administers electrical shocks, which is one of many things being done to him.

The coalition dedicated to fighting this mistreatment, or violations of his rights, or for some in the coalition, even his extradition in the first place, has been concerned with this.

There was a Facebook group dedicated to his imprisonment. It was shut down by Facebook. Not only that, the admins were initially all banned from Facebook. After much protest, only the main admin is now banned.

As I said, he is a guerrilla, and I don't see any point into going into it here in this post. Is it now verboten in the US to protest left-wing guerrillas being shocked by electricity in American jails? And not to go into it by I do have this to say - in the 1985 FARC started a peace campaign, went on a unilateral ceasefire, and began an attempt to go a peaceful, democratic route. Just as FARC and the Colombian left reached out for peace and democracy, the Colombian right began its bloodiest campaign in Colombian history, massacring anyone associated with any union, left-wing party, anybody and everybody. While the AUC did much of, the Colombian army did some of it and Reagan backed this bloodshed. So FARC went back to their guns. An important episode to remember when people condemn FARC. When FARC laid their guns down in 1985 and entered electoral politics, Reagan effectively said that they were out in the open now and could be more easily killed.

Also, why is Glenn Beck style craziness OK on Facebook, but anything remotely left-connected so banned that we can't even say the word Palestinian on Facebook. Not PFLP, not DFLP, not Hamas, but Palestinian itself. The US position on the matter agrees with some sovereignty for the Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza. Is there something intrinsically so evil about their existence that mention of them is verboten? Facebook is really disturbing.

[Hardrada]

5. Not So Hidden Agenda. I'll bet you have to be careful

how you use the word "Zionist" on Facebook also.