
Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins - cgtyoder
http://socialfixer.com/blog/2013/09/12/beware-your-business-is-at-the-mercy-of-facebook-social-fixer-page-deleted-without-explanation/
======
nlh
One of the most important lessons I've learned during the growing-up phase of
my being an entrepreneur -- and one of the first things I'm doing with my next
startup -- is putting together a list of "doomsday scenarios" right off the
bat.

What are the _single_ actions / events / scenarios that could kill your
business overnight?

I emphasize single because every business is going to have the potential for a
series of unforeseen events kill them (i.e. Microsoft would probably not have
seen 'Apple releases a phone' as a business/Balmer-killer), but every business
should be keenly aware of the single-points-of-failure (SPoF).

It seems obvious, but so many folks either willfully ignore or choose to
pretend that SPoF don't exist or rationalize the scenario away.

Examples:

* You run on AWS in a single availability zone, and that availability zone goes down for a week ("The cloud is super reliable. Amazon won't go down.")

* Your CTO is the only person on the company who knows the product, and he quits overnight / gets injured / becomes incapacitated. ("He's my partner. He'd never abandon the business. We're in this together.")

* You rely solely on Facebook / Twitter / Apple App Store and are at the mercy of their changes in policy ("Oh Facebook would never just shut us down.")

* You're built solely on the Foursquare Places API. ("Foursquare won't just kill all the companies that rely on their API...right?")

Etc. etc. etc.

Now, this isn't saying that you should be paralyzed by the potential for SPoFs
to hurt your business -- it may make sense to proceed even with them around
(i.e. lots of people have made a lot of money building FB apps).

But you MUST be aware of what they are, and you MUST have a plan in place to
handle the continuation of the business if one of them comes true.

~~~
mattkruse
Agreed. But also note - this isn't a point of failure. It's an annoyance, and
it's Facebook being arbitrary and inconsistent. But it doesn't affect my
ability to deliver the product. It just makes it a little harder, because the
most logical communication medium between myself and my users has been taken
away.

~~~
jfarmer
Of all the companies out there, Facebook is the least arbitrary and
inconsistent I know! Just imagine they're a perfectly rational, self-
interested actor who plays realpolitik all the time and plan accordingly.

For example, how does FB benefit from your product? Does it hamper them in any
way? Even the name (Social "Fixer") does not align with FB's interests.

The rational thing to do would be to shut you down. If you had leverage or
tied into a broader strategy they might not. But you don't, so they did.

~~~
mattkruse
Agreed. Unfortunately, this is a personal side project. If it were my
business, I would certainly approach it differently. The only benefit they get
is that lots of people continue using Facebook who otherwise may have given up
on it. Oh, and they sometimes seem to add features that I come up with first.
But in general, yes - I am someone they would like to just make go away.

Which is fine - they have a right to do that. But everyone should be aware of
this, because at some point when Facebook decides they don't like your
politics, or hobby, or sexual choices, they'll arbitrarily shut you down, too.
So, don't give them any more than you can afford to lose. But I see many
companies investing a ton of time and money into their Facebook strategy. My
point is to beware, because it may not be a good choice.

~~~
jfarmer
The main aspect of your product they didn't like us that you were inserting
yourself between Facebook and their users. Any platform provider would try to
stop that because that relationship is the foundation for every platform's
value.

The only possible chance you have around this is growing so fast and becoming
so essential that the platform provider can't punish you without punishing
themselves. See, e.g., Facebook and Zynga.

------
electic
It is also against Facebook TOS to create or use browser extensions to alter
the Facebook experience. This has been the rule for many years. The fact that
this page and extension did not get banned sooner is the real story.

~~~
alextingle
They can write that in their terms & conditions all they like, but it doesn't
make it legal or enforceable.

~~~
wutbrodo
How would it be illegal to remove pages from their own platform that alter
Facebook's appearance? As far as enforceability, that seems demonstrably false
based on this post.

~~~
alextingle
Um, I never said that anybody did anything illegal. In fact, that was the
central point of my comment.

SF-guy can write his app, I can use it, and FB can delete his FB pages. No
laws broken.

~~~
wutbrodo
>They can write that in their terms & conditions all they like, but it doesn't
make it legal or enforceable

That was In response to "It is against Facebook tos to create or use
extensions that alter the experience".

When you say "that doesn't make it legal", does that not imply you think
something is illegal....? Regardless, I see from your comment that you weren't
talking about the page removal, but rather going on a tangent about the
legality / enforceability of the ban on creating and using extensions that
alter Facebook (as opposed to banning pages n Facebook that promote these
extensions). We're on total agreement on that.

------
jfarmer
This has been Facebook's MO for almost 5 years now. What Social Fixer was
doing in particular is among a class of applications that Facebook has always
deleted or banned as soon as they noticed them. I've had applications with
5-10MM MAU deleted without warning and know dozens of folks with similar
stories.

That's life developing for Facebook. Don't be under any illusions if you
decide to play in their sandbox.

------
pushkargaikwad
"my Page had 338,050 Likes, my Support Group had 13,360 members, and my
Interest List had 1.47 Million followers. But all of that work was wiped out
in an instant when Facebook decided to shut it down without notice."

"Not only did they remove the page, but they also blocked my personal account
from posting anything for 12 hours (I can’t even Like anything). They also did
the same for anyone who was an Administrator or Moderator of the Page –
including my wife’s personal account! Members of the support team, who
generously volunteer their time to help users, have been shut out as well.
They did one big sweep, I guess."

I came here to post this story, it is unfortunate that this news is not
getting more visibility. If possible, check "tell facebook what you think" and
try to help Matt since he has worked very hard on this app

~~~
res0nat0r
It is against the Facebook TOS, unfortunately shouldn't we be telling him
"don't violate Facebook's TOS without expecting repercussions?"

~~~
Karunamon
The TOS is not above criticism or complaint, and I for one am tired of people
being shouted down because they dared take issue with draconian policies.

~~~
wutbrodo
I tend to have a lot of problems with the way Facebook operates (mostly
involving how they treat their users), but they seem pretty reasonable in this
case. How is it draconian to not allow a Page on your platform that (among
other things) blocks your source of revenue? (social fixer allows blocking
Facebook ads)

~~~
Karunamon
So does Adblock Plus, so does Noscript, so do the content filtering features
of major browsers, yet those all have major pages. Blocking the people is just
plain dickery on Facebook's part.

~~~
res0nat0r
Not at all. FBpurity is still functioning. I have to download it from a 3rd
party site. You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately
violate their TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised _on Facebook_.

~~~
Karunamon
>You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately violate their
TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised on Facebook.

I certainly can (and do) expect humanity and rational thought to take priority
over cold application of _The Rules Über Alles_ \- and any instances of the
latter deserve to be called out for the silliness that they are.

Further, it's not like Facebook didn't know about this until now. _Social
Fixer_ used to be called _Better Facebook_ until Facebook tapped them on the
shoulder and asked them to change the name last year.

~~~
res0nat0r
FB, Google, Amazon etc aren't humanitarian organizations or charity. They are
in the business of providing a product, and making money while doing it.

~~~
Karunamon
Which has what to do with the price of tea in china?

~~~
res0nat0r
It has to do with the fact that they have no reason to "play nice for the
betterment of humanity" if you don't follow their rules, and every reason to
be well within their rights to boot you from their site for what ever reason
they choose.

------
freshhawk
_sigh_ , all these "hackers" confused about the difference between a facebook
app and a browser extension, confused about the difference between the app and
the facebook page about the app ...

These comments are depressing as hell.

On topic: I'd just be happy you lasted this long with a facebook page for an
extension that does this kind of thing. This gets you an extra bump in
publicity and now you don't have the threat of this hanging over your head
anymore. Is there anything that your users want that would _really_ piss
Facebook off that you can do now but were wary of doing before because of not
wanting to push them too far? Aggressive ad filtering?

------
rexreed
This is why I'm so scared / hesitant to build something that depends entirely
or mostly on a third party company for its success or even ability to exist.
Businesses that depend on Facebook or Twitter or Apple's App Store or even
Meetup are scary. I have businesses that depend on one or more of these. And
I'm scared. I'm doing my best to extricate myself from this dependency and
build substantial visibility elsewhere where I can.

------
agilord
From the FAQ:

"Can Social Fixer hide the Sponsored ads?

Yes, just click on the "X" in the upper right of the box, and all boxes with
the same title will be hidden every time you load a page."

There is a lesson here somewhere...

~~~
alyandon
Does that mean
[https://www.facebook.com/adblockplus](https://www.facebook.com/adblockplus)
is next?

~~~
sp332
AdBlock Plus doesn't block Facebook ads for me. Am I using it wrong?

~~~
twigger
By default, Adblock Plus "Allow[s] some non-intrusive advertising."

You have to go into the settings and opt out to stop all ads.

------
namenotrequired
_Beware: Your Business Is At The Mercy Of Facebook!_

...if you allow yourself to rely entirely on them.

~~~
misterbwong
...and violate their TOS at the same time.

~~~
mildtrepidation
Well, whether you do or not, if it's the sole platform you build on, you're at
their mercy.

Violating the TOS means you should expect to get burned (and you've done it to
yourself). Either they utterly failed at any kind of due diligence while
designing this product or they're lying about not understanding Facebook's
actions; neither really engenders sympathy.

I'm not a fan of FB, but this clearly is not some arbitrary evilness on their
end.

~~~
mattkruse
I did not violate their TOS. This is not a Facebook App that uses their API,
therefore I am not bound by their developer TOS.

~~~
if_by_whisky
You are bound by their whims, however. I feel for you-- it's unfortunate to
have something you put your heart and soul into shut down without notice.

This is why I would hesitate before developing a facebook or iOS app. Being
subject to the whims of some tech bureaucrat's interpretation is a little too
discomforting.

~~~
mattkruse
Agree 100%. People have asked for a mobile version of this app, and one of the
big reasons I won't do it (or build any mobile app) is because I refuse to
invest a lot of time and effort into something that can only be distributed
through a 3rd-party channel, with their blessing. I will not take the risk
that Apple will not suddenly decide they don't like my app tomorrow. No way.

~~~
if_by_whisky
Android doesn't require the same sacrifices and has a larger market share for
free apps.

------
victorf
I hope one day we can stop relying on rent-seeking third-party platforms for
important interactions.

------
iblaine
Bummer, during election season Social Fixer made facebook usable by blocking
any comment with the strings 'republican/democratic/romney/obama.' I am going
to miss having the ability to filter crap from my news feed.

~~~
WalterSear
It's not gone - just being bullied.

------
mathattack
"My software is a free browser extension that fixes and enhances the Facebook
user interface"

I can certainly see why Facebook might not want someone else controlling their
user experience. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch that they would
kill this.

------
loceng
Facebook trying to align "Community Standards" with their business
protectionism and perhaps even be trying to disguise it as a positive thing
they're trying to enforce - it's a bit sickening.

------
EGreg
This is why I wrote this: [http://qbix.com/blog](http://qbix.com/blog)

Don't rely on one platform.

------
j45
I wonder if Facebook will come out with these features soon

