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Posted on February 15, 2011 | tags

 
 

Tech: Facebook’s protest game plan: Don’t favor anyone, ban fake accounts

  • Don’t ask Facebook to take sides in the Middle East. The massive social network may have played a key role in the recent protests in Egypt and in other countries, but they’re downright ambivalent about the trend – a major difference from Twitter, which has associated itself with being a communication tool for political movements, and Tumblr, which has a news tag devoted to Egypt. Facebook, meanwhile, has been banning pseudonym-based accounts created specifically to hide people’s names from the government, based on fraud concerns – including Wael Ghonim’s account. This has led to criticism, including a letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Sen. Richard J. Durbin. Look, Facebook, making it easier to facilitate protest isn’t the same thing as supporting protests. What, is the free spread of communication outside of your game plan? source