Activists Upset By Facebook Lockdown On 'Boycott Target' Page

politico.com:

The boycotters turned to [Facebook] to spread word about their pressure campaigns and keep participants up to date on the latest developments, but those efforts became much more difficult last week when Facebook disabled key features on the boycott pages.

As the number of Facebook members signed up for the "Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics" page neared 78,000 in recent days, Facebook personnel locked down portions of the page -- banning new discussion threads, preventing members from posting videos and standard Web links to other sites and barring the page's administrator from sending updates to those who signed up for the boycott.

Read the whole story: politico.com

Comments

[RobWarwick]

10:01 AM on 09/22/2010

wow....just does not seem right. It may not be their intention, and I cant believe it really would be their intention, cause this zuckerman was just another citizen not all that long ago, but, their policies really do seem to give preferential treatment to corportations while restricting the voice of the individual.

They really should rethink this policy.

[rougebaisers]

03:34 PM on 09/21/2010

Why doe anyone have anything to do with this pitiful nerds site?

[maeinak]

03:13 PM on 09/21/2010

Good think corporations aren't the same as people!!! ...oh... wait.... no........ my bad.

[Tunghoy]

02:34 PM on 09/21/2010

Facebook seems to have an agenda. They keep pushing right-wing ads on me even though I always close them and mark them as offensive, and even though I've "liked" plenty of progressive groups. It seems the teabaggers have taken over Facebook from the inside, also.

[DevonTexas]

02:24 PM on 09/21/2010

This is a very good picture of the future of the Corporate-owned internet. It's time to boycott Facebook. It's seen it's day anyway. It's about as relevent as bell bottom pants.

[shivabeach]

12:09 PM on 09/21/2010

welcome to corporate America. Please feel free to use Facebook but also remember that you must live the way we tell you to. You may think you're independent and free, but you really belong to me

[whocares246]

12:44 PM on 09/21/2010

Facebook is a free service that costs you nothing. So you have no real voice when it comes to how they manage their property. You are free to STOP using any time you want, and they have no ability to tell you how to live your life. It has nothing to do with corporate America. Until they start charging for their service, you have no control over how they do business.

[aksudntpron]

04:47 AM on 09/21/2010

Forgive my ignorance but does fb have a reputation for being against the gays?

[Hardyman1966]

03:06 AM on 09/21/2010

It's free.  It's pointless.  And now you REALLY have a reason to stay away from Facebook.

[Sanjeev Shan]

12:29 AM on 09/21/2010

just another reason why I'm happy about making my decision to leave facebook

[hypnotoad72]

09:01 PM on 09/20/2010

So much for 'freedom of speech'.

[whocares246]

12:39 PM on 09/21/2010

Freedom of speech has nothing to do with this.

[charles116]

07:59 PM on 09/20/2010

I avoid Facebook like the plague.
And am glad I never put anything up.

[transfix]

06:14 PM on 09/20/2010

This is exactly why social networking needs to be decentralized...

[hypnotoad72]

08:56 PM on 09/20/2010

Agreed!

[Eris23]

04:24 PM on 09/20/2010

“They're … optimized for official entities’ needs to communicate, distribute content, engage people and capture new audiences. To protect people from spam and other unwanted content, we restrict Pages that represent ideas or positions — rather than discrete entities — from publishing stories to people's News Feeds." “This policy is designed to ensure Facebook remains a safe, secure and trusted environment for the people who use it,” the spokesman said."

This is, plain and simple, BS. Since all such pages are "opt in," why do they need special treatment? How are they making anyone "safer" with this? Odds are, if you subscribe to something, you want the updates. If you get sick of it, you unsubscribe, all of which is very simple to do in Facebook.

[PatricktPDX]

04:10 PM on 09/20/2010

They are probably going to be selling their new facebook phone through Target

[hypnotoad72]

09:00 PM on 09/20/2010

Or Best Buy... or other companies that think we're just "walking wallets"... there are one or two companies (not Target or Best Buy)  that claim they are for 'gay pride' but if people did a little research, they would discover that the companies (whose names I haven't said yet) are guilty of other human rights abuses.  Usually over work conditions.  Such support of us is nullified, to say the least.  

Claim.

Reality.

Interesting side-note.  At least for one entity, times have changed.  For the other, it's just vain marketing.