| merijn oudenampsen on Sun, 1 May 2011 22:21:09 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Facebook censors 50 protest groups in the run up to the royal wedding |
Hey nettimers, In the run up to the wedding, facebook decided to delete 50 profiles of British anti cuts protest groups. Seems like they have been coordinating this with the police. Scary precedent. Join the protest against it... on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_182031188514672#!/home.php?sk=group_182031188514672 greets, M Stop the facebookpurge! We demand the reinstatement of all the political Facebook accounts blocked in the run-up to the royal wedding, and that Facebook release an official apology to all those affected. As the media gather to celebrate the nuptials of our aristo overlords and the police pre-emptively cleanse London, making arrests under the new unpublicised thought crime ‘suspicion of being an anarchist’, Facebook has joined in the crackdown by blocking political accounts. The following accounts have been blocked in the 12 hours leading up to the royal wedding: Open Birkbeck UWE Occupation Chesterfield Stopthecuts Camberwell AntiCuts IVA Womensrevolution Tower Hamlets Greens No Cuts ArtsAgainst Cuts London Student Assembly Beat’n Streets Roscoe ‘Manchester’ Occupation Bristol Bookfair Newcastle Occupation Socialist Unity Whospeaks Forus Ourland FreeLand Bristol Ukuncut Teampalestina Shaf Notts-Uncut Part-of UKUncut No Quarter Cutthewar Bootle Labour Claimants Fightback Ecosocialists Unite Comrade George Orwell Jason Derrick Anarchista Rebellionist BigSociety Leeds Slade Occupation Anti-Cuts Across Wigan Firstof Mayband Don’t Break Britain United Cockneyreject SWP Cork Westiminster Trades Council York Anarchists Rock War Sheffield Occupation Central London SWP North London Solidarity Southwark Sos Save NHS Rochdale Law Centre Goldsmiths Fights Back The Facebook statement of rights and responsibilities reveals that the threat of deletion is constantly hovering over the heads of anyone who dares to participate in social media without fully revealing their identity – “use of a fake name” is among the violations that can lead to accounts being deleted – but it is clear that this recent wave of shutdowns is politically motivated, part of a network of repression designed to stifle protest. Unfortunately, should you take issue with Facebook’s corporate policies, all grievances must according to our tacit agreement be pursued through California law courts (see FB statement of rights). As total transparency is demanded of us through our participation in social media, the people who dictate its terms hide behind legal firewalls. The mainstream media has celebrated how protestors in the Middle East have used social media to organise revolution – now let’s see if the same pundits who were excited by Tahrir on Twitter speak up to defend UK-based activists who are now to be barred from organising and discussing via supposedly liberatory social media mechanisms. Please join our Facebook group to protest the purge: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_182031188514672#!/home.php?sk=group_182031188514672 # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org