Facebook Restores Accounts Of 3 Critics It Mysteriously Deleted

from the don't-piss-off-facebook? dept

Apparently, three Argentines who worked on a book that mocks Facebook mysteriously had their Facebook accounts deleted in January. On top of that, a Facebook group of fans, who numbered in the tens of thousands, also disappeared. After the deleted profiles finally started getting attention, Facebook admitted it made a "mistake" and put the profiles back. The three individuals had been trying to get an explanation from Facebook for weeks with no luck -- and it was only when the press started picking up on the story that Facebook admitted its "mistake." Either way, it's a reminder that what you do on Facebook can disappear in an instant based on the company's whims.
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Filed Under: accounts, critics, deleted
Companies: facebook


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2010 @ 6:29am

    Either way, it's a reminder that what you do IN THE CLOUD can disappear in an instant based on whim.

    There I corrected it for you.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      learn a little, 22 Feb 2010 @ 4:14pm

      Re:

      ummm... no. there are places in the cloud (supporting infrastructure) that are untouchable. organizations like Facebook make it seem, to minds like yours, that modern trends make parts of the cloud obsolete in one form or another (farthest thing from the truth when talking about the net). thank goodness that when portals like Facebook dissapear from the cloud in a whim, users like yourself and the crap they uploaded into the cloud, will go with them.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    The Root, 22 Feb 2010 @ 6:40am

    Facebook's stupidity

    I guess you can't trust a company who could decide to remove you at any time without any prior notice.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    The Root, 22 Feb 2010 @ 6:40am

    Facebook's stupidity

    I guess you can't trust a company who could decide to remove you at any time without any prior notice.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2010 @ 6:46am

    Yet another reason not to Facebook.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    yourrealname (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 6:52am

    Facebook

    For a company supposedly worth so much, their website is very clunky and un-user friendly. Wouldn't be a huge deal if that wasn't their main product! The user experience is terrible but since everything else on the web seems to have been built to work with Facebook, and everyone you know uses it, you're pretty much stuck having to use it if you want to use a social network at all. The fact that they are acting like MySpace when Fox took over, just deleting accounts they don't like to silence them and such, is hardly surprising. What are you going to do, use a different social network?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2010 @ 9:38am

      Re: Facebook

      Instead of criticizing give an alternative bonjo!

      How is it clunky? un-user friendly? etc

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Skeptical Cynic (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:11am

    Two rules of the internet...

    1. Anytime you put information out on the internet and then realize that you want it deleted it will spread to everyone and be copied and cached everywhere. Never to disappear.

    2. Anytime you put information out on the internet and want everyone to know about it, it will disappear overnight without any warning and without any explanation.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:25am

      Re: Two rules of the internet...

      3. No matter what you're trying to do with what type of information, there will always be some unintended use or consequence to what you do

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Nick, 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:29am

      Re: Two rules of the internet...

      Thats not a rule confined to the internet... its a practical example of Murphys Law!!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    btr1701 (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:51am

    Is this a surprise?

    It's a private web site, after all. Why is anyone surprised that they can delete whatever like for whatever reasons they like? Unless there are some kind of contractual terms prohibiting it, Facebook can do whatever it likes, even if it's not particularly smart from a business standpoint.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      someone who actually knows what he's talking about, 22 Feb 2010 @ 8:37am

      Re: Is this a surprise?

      exactly. if you don't like it, go out and make your own facebook style site, or make your own blog. this is not at&t here that has a natural monopoly over communications. there are countless other social networks.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Mike Masnick (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 10:33am

        Re: Re: Is this a surprise?

        exactly. if you don't like it, go out and make your own facebook style site, or make your own blog. this is not at&t here that has a natural monopoly over communications. there are countless other social networks.

        I love this argument because of its pure ridiculousness.

        "If you don't like something, stop complaining and go do your own thing."

        Spoken by someone who absolutely hates our site. He, SWAKWHTA, why not take your own advice:

        "If you don't like Techdirt, go out and make your own blog. Techdirt is not AT&T here that has a natural monopoly over other blogs. There are countless other blogs."

        And yet.. here you are, day in, day out, complaining. Hypocrite.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          someone who actually knows what he's talking about, 23 Feb 2010 @ 3:11am

          Re: Re: Re: Is this a surprise?

          are you retarded? these aren't even fractionally paralleled. if you started deleting my posts, or you banned my IP, that'd be one thing, but what i do here has nothing to do with what facebook did.

          showing that you are inexperienced, untrained, and in it for the sensationalism isn't complaining. it's actually pretty fun. hell... even maddox realized this years ago. when you bitch and complain and tell everyone else that they're wrong, your position better be unassailable.

          and before you respond "you should look in the mirror!" or something like that, you need to remember that you are the one complaining about the way things are.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Mike Masnick (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 4:19am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: Is this a surprise?

            are you retarded?

            This amuses me. The more we prove you consistently wrong, the more you resort to out and out insults. Very convincing.

            these aren't even fractionally paralleled

            Heh. Wow. I really don't know what to say if you honestly think that it's not okay for us to point out something that is wrong with what's happening, but it's fine for you to do it -- and then say that the situations are not the same. I'm speechless. The situations are clearly parallel. But apparently you didn't think I'd call you on it so you have to pretend they're not. Weak show.

            showing that you are inexperienced, untrained, and in it for the sensationalism isn't complaining. it's actually pretty fun

            If you had done any of those things, you'd have a point. But to date, every time you've tried to do any of those things, it took mere minutes to show that you were wrong -- often in hilarious ways -- which explains your continued failure to actually stand up for what you write by putting a name on it.

            Of course, you'll never do that, because who would want to have their name associated with your type of rhetoric: baseless insults combined with being factually wrong on nearly every single comment.

            even maddox realized this years ago. when you bitch and complain and tell everyone else that they're wrong, your position better be unassailable.

            Who the hell is "maddox"? And, again, if you ever actually got something right, perhaps you'd have a point.

            But so far, all you've done is made false claims that were easily proven as wrong. You claimed I said a judge said something that I never said. You claimed I confused revenue and units, when the numbers showed I had not. And on and on and on again. To date, the only one complaining and getting it wrong repeatedly has been you.

            It's amusing to watch. Every few months we get some new troll show up here, but honestly, usually they're at least marginally competent at trolling. You're one of the more incompetent trolls we've seen in a while.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    John Do, 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:51am

    What happens on Facebook...

    ...doesn't always stay on Facebook.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Skeptical Cynic (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 7:53am

      Re: What happens on Facebook...

      Unless you are trying to get a job. In which case everything you have ever posted will be found by the potential employer.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Tom Landry (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 8:16am

    I quite frequently will click through on an embedded video to see it at YouTube itself -- often to see more about who posted it, or sometimes the comments on the video

    I do this on nearly every embedded YouTube video I view.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Nicholas Overstreet (profile), 22 Feb 2010 @ 9:21am

    Facebook has got to be one of the most schizophrenic companies out there. On one hand they delete profiles on a whim. On the other hand, they won't let people delete their own profiles via Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. Make up your mind Facebook. Sheesh.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    martinpasha (profile), 23 Feb 2010 @ 2:45pm

    Don't think so..

    >You're one of the more incompetent trolls we've seen in a while.

    He provoked you to this relatively long answer, right?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Julie, 24 Feb 2010 @ 12:27pm

    Facebook

    Ahhh yes, another social networking site that randomly deletes user accounts. MySpace is facing a lawsuit in the Ninth Circuit over the same thing. Perhaps these companies will soon learn they cannot legally state they deleted your account due to a terms of use violation and you are able to prove them wrong with convincing evidence.

    And then they publish a statement that your account was deleted due to violating the terms. Hello False Light claim !! The CDA doesn't apply when MySpace published the defamatory statement. Oh how the tide can quickly turn on these untouchable companies :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mar, 24 Feb 2010 @ 8:23pm

    A sign that we shouldn't be taking facebook too seriously like our neighbours do.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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