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Open Letter to Facebook

 Dear Facebook,


I have been a member of your community for over a decade. During this time, I kept in touch with my friends, made new ones and discovered some amazing people.
You helped me grow my readers’ circle, you facilitated my spiritual development and allowed me to see my family through your messenger video calls.
Some stories and pictures moved me to tears, some others made me burst into laughter.

I am ever so grateful for all this.

You, as a social platform, are a great tool for introverted people.
My world was so, so terribly small and you unfolded the entire universe before me.
I learned a lot and I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes. 
I can’t even remember what I was before you. 

You, dear Facebook, are the social platform that I’ve felt attracted to from the start. I found you easy to use.
As a writer in search of a readership, you are the one that I’ve used with a predilection to share my blogs and my thoughts.
You meant a lot, a real lot, to me and for many years I held you in high esteem.

That until, all of a sudden, you’ve started to block my pages, hide my comments, deny my adverts, prevent me from sharing links from my blogs…

I was so, so very confused as to why would you do such a thing to me. 
'Why me?!?!’
Asks everyone, right?
Except for I am not everyone.

You see, dear Facebook, I am a fervid advocate for kindness.
  • I stand against every sort of discrimination, but I am not a catalyst for war against the bigots. I don’t incite people to violence and savage behaviour. 
  • I don’t like arguments, so I don’t lead any. I am not a polemical person.
  • I don’t offend those who offend me. I don’t pay in the same coin.
  • I refrain myself from becoming like them: irrational, mean, malicious… plain evil. Shallow and despicable.
  • I encourage tolerance and understanding. 
When I say that ‘I am a good person’ is because I truly am a good person at heart. 

That, of course, if you won't ask those who despise me. 
I can assure you that who hates me most, those who laugh harder when I am hurt, are those I helped. 


Dear Facebook, in 11 years of being part of your community you allowed countless monsters of evil to harass and bully me (and so many, too many others) with no repercussions for them. 
You didn't delete spam comments from my posts (as requested), you failed to protect my account etc. and I still stood by you. 
I always spoke highly of you. 

So, imagine my surprise, when on the 25th of July 2021,  you gave me a warning. 



And that happened based on this comment which you hid from my personal account.  



Because it’s in Romanian (with a few grammar mistakes), I am going to translate it for those who read English (grammar errors left out on purpose):

***
'You don't even have to, ma'am. But I don't think such a comment is correct, considering that I have shown with facts that I care about you. I'm at work 24 hours a day, dear lady. 
I have about 100 projects working on my break. I don't even have time to log on to Facebook. 
And I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone. 
Even though I understand your frustration perfectly, I do not appreciate gratuitous malice. 
If you don't care, don't comment.' 
***

My words were a diplomatic reply to an unnecessarily callous comment left by a wicked being. 
Sorry, I didn't have the chance to take a print screen of it when it was posted. 
I remember it well, first because it lacked punctuation, capitals and secondly, it wittingly lacked tact. 

It was purposely disrespectful and mean.  See below why I am so sure of that. 

***
Romanian: 'nu imi pasa ca nici altora nu le pasa punct' 


English: 'i don't care because others don't care either period' 

*** 
It’s important to know that the individual behind this controversial act of unkindness is a very educated one. Moreover, it’s someone I helped and I can prove it. 

I spoke my mind as a victim of abuse. I defended my harmless post and its meaning (which, by the way, was irony).  


My reply wasn’t mean, it wasn’t bullying, it was fair and perfectly appropriate. 
I don't enjoy being slapped in the face by those I help. 

Here is the link to it.


To add salt to injury, you’ve given me a warning (see print shot).
That was what outraged me.  



To be clear, the comment wasn’t removed by you, but by me (sort of). 
When you block someone, their activities (and yours on them) disappear from your pages. 
In this case, you hid it, I blocked the frustrated being. 
Comments gone. 
I refuse to keep 'friends' like that. 

And again, this hasn’t happened last year or 90 days ago (as the print screen states), but on the 25th of July 2021. 

Then, on the 29th of July, you’ve prevented me from sharing this blog post on my brother’s page.  



It’s a Happy Birthday post (click to read it) in which I express my love and gratitude towards my little brother.
A couple of minutes later – I don’t know how and why – you permitted me to post it in the comments. 

Why would you block a post like that (instantly I mean)? 
Is my account on your Black List? 
Based on what? 
According to whom? 
Whose reporting? 


Dear Facebook, I am a writer and a blogger who raises awareness of racism without racists, of heinous actions veiled in all sorts of aberrant beliefs, of conceit disguised in constructive criticism.
I am ashamed of being a human in this world lately.


Therefore, dear Facebook, after days of careful consideration, I denounce your warning and actions towards my activities (posts, comments, ads etc.) as misfeasance. 
They are unjust and discriminating.
In a court of law, I would be entitled to plead ‘not guilty’ of whatever you're accusing me of. 


I officially invite you to do a thorough check of all my activities on your platform and blogs, if you like. It will be time-consuming though, I write on 50. 

You could use a program to start with, but as soon as your algorithms start to show red flags, I expect you to put a person in charge of my ‘investigation’.
But, please, delegate a grown-up human being, not one of those adolescents for which common sense, respect, conscience, compassion and soul are abstract notions.

Mistakes can happen indeed, dear Facebook, and you excel at making them. 

My questions are: 
Do you do it knowingly?
Have you planned on getting rid of good people from your platform?
If that so – as your actions towards me (and God knows how many others) prove it – to what end? 

Take the warning away, dear Facebook. Scrap my account from your Black list and put it on the Green one instead. 

Your algorithm doesn’t differentiate a sincere and nice person from billions that say they’re good people.
As a reasonable and objective person, I am perfectly aware that my feelings for you have never been anything but a means to an end. 
I appreciate why I am just a number to you (and most companies), nothing to be offended for. The society we live in dictates it (sort of) – but I am much more than a number and my online blogs and activities support that without a shadow of a doubt. 


Please, cease the fire, end the war on kindness. 

Stop hindering people like me from spreading love and doing whatever is within their power to make this world a better place.
Confirm that you don’t discriminate against humans of substance. 
Sanction those who deserve it. Really. 

If instead, you choose to delete my profile, the 15 pages and the 4 groups I founded and manage (alone), well, then there isn’t much else to say.
Is there? 
Would you really do me a disservice? 
To what extent? 

I take full responsibility for my actions and I'll use another platform to video call my 86-year-old mother next Tuesday. 
It's a shame, it took her a week to learn to switch the laptop on and go on Facebook, to wait for either of her 9 children to call. 
She was 78 and had never seen a computer before, never heard of Facebook and video calls. 




This post first appeared on Author Cristina G., please read the originial post: here

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Open Letter to Facebook

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