
Ask HN: Facebook threatening to permanently delete my account. Who do I contact? - auganov
Yesterday I was blocked from facebook which seemed to be the regular &quot;Real Name Policy&quot; suspension. I submitted my ID. Actually 3 IDs including my passport.<p>But I&#x27;ve been told twice that &quot;we can&#x27;t clearly see your information&quot;. Which obviously wasn&#x27;t the case. I was like whatever, I&#x27;ll appeal and get it back eventually.<p>But after my third message I got told &quot;It looks like you&#x27;re not old enough to join Facebook yet. You must be at least 13 years old to have a Facebook account, even if an adult has given you permission to sign up. We&#x27;ll need to permanently delete your account, but you can create a new one when you&#x27;re old enough&quot;.<p>Now I&#x27;m over 20, which the documents I submitted clearly show. I might look a few years younger, but there&#x27;s no way someone could reasonably assume I&#x27;m under 13.<p>The worst is, it seems like that&#x27;s one of the few cases where they outright delete your account rather than disable (which is supposedly what happens to people with fake names etc.).
So as far as my understanding goes I won&#x27;t even be able to appeal the decision. I sent a few emails to addresses I could google out but almost all got bounced.<p>I&#x27;m at a complete loss. The account I&#x27;ve used for many years will be deleted any second and I can&#x27;t do anything. I don&#x27;t even want to use that site anymore, just let me tell my friends I&#x27;m switching to somewhere else lol. I have a suspicion that I&#x27;m being treated unfairly because of my unusual name or even targeted because of a non-standard gender option and&#x2F;or the way it relates to my looks. In the end I have no clue. But I&#x27;m definitely being banned under a false pretense.<p>I have screenshots of the support thread if somebody&#x27;s curious (not posting here cause privacy).
======
Nadya
_> I have a suspicion that I'm being treated unfairly because of my unusual
name or even targeted because of a non-standard gender option and/or the way
it relates to my looks._

Contact (tech) news publications if you have solid evidence [0] of this. Bad
publicity will pressure Facebook more than you'd be able to. They'll run a
sexism-in-Tech article centering around Facebook's treatment of non-standard
genders and Facebook will reverse whatever issues you're going through in a
jiffy.

May as well play the current political climate to your advantage. And I mean
the above in a genuine effort to help - as it very much would and I don't see
alternatives. Facebook controls Facebook. If they're going to delete your
account or treat you unfairly, they will. But not if it means bad press. Give
them bad press and your problems with them will go away.

[0] Who am I kidding, if there is even a _possibility_ of it being construed
this way.

------
auganov
UPDATE 2: GOT IT BACK, Thank you guardian angles of HN if thats you :P

UPDATE: I uploaded a screenshot of the support conversation. I obfuscated any
info that would identify me.
[http://imgur.com/JB4XX4s](http://imgur.com/JB4XX4s) (if you're wondering -
the discrepancy in my name I'm talking about in the last message is merely a
matter of an acute over one letter.)

@Nadya Yea, I've considered that. But I'm not sure if trading personal privacy
for getting that account is a good deal. And it seems like there's been
countless huge stories about people in the drag community. I just sent an
email to one of the main people that were involved in these. The word on the
interwebs is they have some special contact at FB. And I really hope I can
handle it that way. Trying to find more potentially-helpful people.

------
orionblastar
I would suggest getting a lawyer, this is clearly discrimination and you have
a civil case against Facebook.

Have the lawyer write a letter to the lawyers at Facebook with proof that you
are over 20 and what your real name is, because Facebook is not taking you
seriously.

Huffington Post did a lot of gender equality on Facebook before, you might
want to contact them about your issues if they are based on non-standard
gender issues.

------
J_Darnley
Facebook was doing you a favour and you try desperately to stay on their
platform. Are you insane?

~~~
auganov
Haha. Yea, that were my feelings the first few hours. But then you get a bit
sad about all the tiny friendships that will die and that won't happen if
you're not on there. It indeed is disconcerting how tied one's life can be to
a single platform that can delete you any second. I want to say I'll diversify
but I know it's gonna be tough.

BTW that's the apology I got (cannot edit so posting here, don't want to spam)
[http://imgur.com/igaVhvq](http://imgur.com/igaVhvq)

~~~
J_Darnley
Well if you're satisfied with the outcome then I guess it's good.

