I Was Sent to Facebook Jail

The avatar that I sometimes use on facebook to represent myself
 is shown behind bars.

If you are a Russian with rubles to pay for ads, facebook welcomes you with open arms. American citizens who just want to share information and opinions who can’t afford to ante up for ads—it’s straight to facebook jail for you.

I’d like to see Mark Zuckerberg in jail. If he broke any laws by spreading Russian propaganda to help Donald Trump win the election, I hope the Feds prosecute him to the full extent of the law.

Talking about the law, aren’t there some anti-trust issues with facebook? It is a monopoly. If you don’t like the way facebook treats you, but you still want to remain connected, there is no place left to go.

(BTW, individuals like you and me are not facebook’s customers—that would be the advertisers.  We are its product and facebook sells us and the data it collect about us to the highest bidder.)

What is Facebook Jail?

 “Facebook jail” refers to a user having their usage of facebook suspended for a certain amount of time. The time varies from 5 or 6 days to a month. When you are in jail, you can’t post or comment, sometimes not even onyour own facebook page. Once I had everything I had ever posted, even on my own page, just erased.

There was no warning and there was no appeal. In theory, you can appeal. A little box will pop up, and you can use that box to explain why you think facebook has blocked you “in error.” You can offer your explanation, but don’t expect a reply. I have never gotten a reply. I have never heard of anyone getting a reply. (I asked people I know who have also been in facebook jail and also googled it.)

Why Does Someone Get Sent to facebook Jail?

 I googled that too. No one knows. How much is too much posting? Does it depend on what you are posting? Is it a form of censorship?

If you don’t know the rules, how can you avoid breaking them?  I think facebook keeps moving the goalposts, so to speak. After I got out of facebook jail the last time, I cut back on posting to about a third of what I had done previously. Bam! No warning, in about two weeks, I’m back in jail.  

Why do I post a lot?

 1.  I’m a writer and a writer wants to be read.

I want to express my opinions. I usually write about subjects I am passionate about—religion (from an atheist perspective) and politics (from a liberal perspective.

2. It strokes my ego.

I post to facebook groups that are appropriate for my content. I get very positive feedback from readers—lots of likes, lots of shares, and lots of comments. The comments are mostly positive because I only post to groups where I can expect a favorable reception. People often tell me how much they liked an article I wrote.

Sometimes I have been contacted by admins who ask me to join their group and post my stuff there. Sometimes, if I haven’t posted to a particular group in a while, the admin will contact me and ask me to post to his group. The admins of some groups do not allow posts to appear unless they have approved them. My posts are always approved.That's very flattering.

Not every admin loves me. I know this because sometimes I am booted from a group. I’m fine with that. The admin should be allowed to control who can post to his group.

However, facebook doesn’t think so.  Facebook thinks they should control who can post to your group. Even if you want that content—too bad. Facebook says no.

I should state that my content is well within the guidelines—no nudity, no profanity, no pyramid schemes, no selling. Likewise when I comment, I never use profanity or insults. I also follow the rules of common courtesy, so if someone comments, I reply.

3. I often learn new stuff.

The comments I get are very helpful to me as a writer. Sometimes a reader will point out a typo, a grammar error, or an error in fact.  (Sometimes politely, and sometimes nastily. I ignore the snark—that’s the nature of facebook.) I’m always grateful for the correction.

Sometimes a comment will provide new information on the topic. Once in a while I have taken this information and added it to my essay.

Sometimes a reader will try to refute me. I consider that an opportunity to learn. I have often spent up to an hour searching the internet to find the information to confirm or refute what the reader has said in his comment.    

4. I earn a small amount of money.

I’m not selling anything, but I do earn based on views. It amounts to less than one fourth of one cent per view. In a good month, I get between $50 and $100 a month. (And that is for pretty much 40 hours a week of effort.) I’m retired and live mainly on social security so the little bit of extra money is nice.

Interestingly, during the tie I have been in jail, my views have not decreased very much--maybe 800 a day instead of 1000 a day overall. Most of my views come organically, from google, bing, etc.

Work it out. I earn $2 or $3 a day. Obviously, writing is more of a hobby than a job. I keep thinking I should try to write articles for publications that pay, but then I couldn’t write what I want when I want. And the pay for writers is pretty low anyway.

I don’t see myself as posting for self-promotion. I am a content provider. Facebook should pay me. They should pay all of us that provide the content that enable them to sell facebook users to advertisers. At the very least they should see it as a fair trade—free use of the platform in exchange for allowing them to sell us to advertisers.

I’m sure facebook would be happy to have me buy ads. But that means I would spend more on the ads than I could earn back in views. And I've just spent $50 for the annual fee to use a photo editor--that used to be free.  (I created the picture above.)  I feel like I have spent enough money on this hobby.

5. This is how I have fun.

I’ve made a few friends though my writing. Even though we are only facebook friends, I have enjoyed our brief connections.

Facebook is a cruel despot.

Facebook has cut me off. I’m going through withdrawal now. I will really miss facebook.

This whole article is just me venting. There is nothing I can do.

I’ll probably continue writing, because I like writing. If you want to be able to see my writing, follow up on facebook and join the two groups I have set up. One is The Eclectic Atheist Forum and the other is BlueAmerica Fights Back.  I have also set up two facebook pages The Eclectic Atheist and Politics for Blue America so please like and follow these pages. 

 I also post other interesting stuff I have found on facebook and the internet—it is no all my own writing.  And of course, other people pot to these groups and pages also.

Finally, when you come across my writing, please share it.  A share is the best compliment I can get.

Update

Facebook is officially out of control. I think they just added a day to my sentence. Why? What did I do today? 

I was interested in the Donna Brazile frecas. I scrolled through my feed and quickly found two posts that explained why Brazile had it all wrong. I shared these posts. I made a few comments on these and other posts--maybe about five. 

Then I saw a post with a very long thread. Someone complained about being sent to facebook jail for no reason. In the comments some people said the same thing had happened to them. I commented that it happened to me and I included a link to this post rather than trying to tell the whole story in a comment.   

Then I moved on to another post in my feed and I tried to post a comment. Bam! I box opened up with a new end-date for my prison sentence--a day longer than before. .Evidently fb doesn't like it when you expose they autocrataic behaviors. 

Does anyone want to file a class action law suit. I'm in.

© Catherine Giordano 2017