

When Facebook Disables Your Fan Page - Aloisius
http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/2126/when-facebook-disables-your-fan-page

======
heyitsgarrett
From their post, they're complaining about Facebook disabling their fan page
without explanation while littering the same item with unattributed images.

I've had work in the past posted to their site without attribution and it was
a headache to get them to either attribute it or remove it (they chose the
latter).

It seems rather obvious why their Facebook account was disabled.

~~~
mnicole
While that's likely the case, at the end of the day if FB is trying to be an
advertising platform, they can't do it without competent customer service to
ensure they're not cannibalizing their own intent.

~~~
amccloud
Google seems to do just fine without comptent customer service. Maybe that's
the key to a successful advertising platform.

~~~
mnicole
Can't tell if you're being sarcastic here.

------
crazygringo
If there's infringing content, then isn't that what DMCA notices are for? And
shouldn't Facebook simply remove the offending specific piece of content, than
rather an entire page like that? And shouldn't it provide warning in advance,
with an opportunity to contest it?

The DMCA law establishes processes between content creators and websites, but
leaves websites free to determine the processes (or lack thereof) between
themselves and the users who submitted the content. I.e., a single photo can
result in termination of your entire fanpage without warning.

As more and more people rely on companies like Facebook, Google, etc. to host
their content, consumers are going to need protections against arbitrary
actions by companies, lacking due process.

~~~
debacle
Facebook is under no obligation to continue hosting your fan page. The DMCA
only prescribes upper limits to the liability sites like Facebook have to
copyright infringement on their website.

> lacking due process

Due process is a constitutional right that only pertains to citizens'
interactions with the Unites States Government and state and local
governments.

~~~
Karunamon
Perhaps in this era of political speech being hosted on the servers of various
third parties, such rights should be extended.

~~~
debacle
Considering that there's no constitutional basis for even applying due process
to the private sector, I think you're going to have a hard time convincing
anyone that's a good idea.

~~~
Karunamon
How does whether the law supports something influence whether modifying the
law is a good idea or not?

------
incongruity
_> "The other reason that could have caused the closure of our FB page is that
we sometimes use images even when we do not know who has taken the picture."_

And that, folks, is why you at least attribute your sources. I feel no
sympathy for a _company_ who has no compunction about posting others' work
uncited/unattributed much less even uncompensated.

------
wyck
They are just going to have to take media licensing more seriously, why do
they think they deserve a hall pass, especially considering their whole brand
is build upon the work of others.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I was wondering the same thing, looks like a variation on the 'user
contributed content' site, for which there are a bunch. If you want to run
such a site in this era of copyright litigation you need to clear access
rights for every image you put up.

------
greenwalls
I had a Facebook fan page with over 100,000 fans that was deleted suddenly for
no reason. After around 3-4 weeks I got the page reinstated by using some
contact links and email addresses I found by searching Google.

Facebook said we had posted inappropriate content but I was the only one with
admin access and I'm absolutely 100% sure that never happened. Also the page
was set up so users couldn't post images.

I think what must have happened was they had some kind of temporary exploit
where someone was able to post inappropriate content that looked like it came
from us, or maybe users were able to post something temporarily somehow. Or I
guess it could have just been a glitch and nothing bad ever happened at all
and that's why they reinstated it? It was very stressful but I'm glad it's
over now.

~~~
pgrote
Did they let you know what the inappropriate content was? When your page was
restored was the history and content intact? Aren't you concerned it'll happen
again?

~~~
greenwalls
They never let me know what the inappropriate content was. The page was
restored with all the history/content intact and all likes intact. Yes I am
very concerned and paranoid it could happen again and I've really locked down
my page a lot more that I probably would have otherwise. For example I don't
let users post to our wall anymore, they can only comment on our own posts.

Even before we were mysteriously blocked I never let users post photos/videos
to our wall and obviously we'd never allow any inappropriate content there.

