Facebook Bans 'Steve Jobs' Timeline (VIDEO)

He might be a recent Emmy Award winner, but the late Steve Jobs is not welcome on Facebook. That is, a profile dedicated to the former Apple CEO is not allowed on Facebook.

The social network on February 22 took down an extensive Facebook timeline tribute to the life and accomplishments of Jobs, just two days before his February 24 birthday, Mercury News reports.

Bog Genius Report identified the brain behind the "Stevie Paul Jobs" timeline as Simon Lau, a Singapore-based web developer.

A video exploring the various posts on the timeline -- which followed Jobs' life from his youth through his professional career in a great number of posts and pictures -- was posted on Lau's YouTube channel on October 9, 2011, four days after Jobs' death. (Scroll down to watch.)

According to Mercury News' Jeremy C. Owens, the profile first disappeared Wednesday morning after garnering some attention from sites like 9to5Mac, which tweeted about the profile on February 21; however, it was back up within a few hours.

Unfortunately, the timeline was removed yet again later that day, this time without reemerging. Owens attributed the ban to a request he sent to Facebook for comment on the profile. He tweeted apologetically to Lau:

I think it was my email that got the awesome Steve Jobs Timeline permanently removed from Facebook. Sorry, @sim0nth. mercurynews.com/business/ci_20…

— Jeremy C. Owens (@mercbizbreak) February 23, 2012

Facebook reportedly responded to Owens' request that it "would not comment on individual profiles" and provided "a general statement about its policy on requiring real names to establish a Facebook profile."

(In Facebook's Terms of Service, under the section titled "Registration and Security," the social network states that a personal profile be maintained by the person whose name is attached to the profile. "You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission," the article reads.)

Lau has since revealed that he has already appealed to Facebook to reinstate the timeline in order to honor Jobs, but he's still awaiting a response:

Have appealed to Facebook. Wait for their response. twitter.com/sim0nth/status…

— simonth (@sim0nth) February 23, 2012

Watch Lau's video of the Steve Jobs' timeline tribute (below). Do you think Facebook should reinstate the profile?

Comments

[mediacrazed]

04:29 PM on 02/26/2012

If Facebook's a no-go, then he can port his content over to a blog... easy switch since it's date-centric anyway, and with all this publicity, he'll have lots of visitors.

[bring in swat]

12:52 AM on 02/26/2012

gawd who cares...he jealous of FB and hated them anyway. Non-Issue to whip some BS headlines.

[Lucille]

02:11 AM on 02/27/2012

I don't think Steve was jealous of Mark Zuckerberg, actually Mark Zukenberg sought and received Steve's advice. What they did was in poor taste, it's hard to say what their motivations were.

[Barbarian At The Gate]

12:00 AM on 02/26/2012

Did anyone else ever call him Stevie?

[Rob Cypher]

09:24 PM on 02/25/2012

This is a non-story unless they banned him from making a "fan page". Sounds like he tried to make a regular profile as if he were a "real" individual. FB policy bans that (due to sockpuppets and the like).

[Rochelle MacDonald]

05:00 PM on 02/25/2012

Interesting. Perhaps some kind of rules need to be stated how long a person must be deceased before a facebook page can be created representing that historical figure? I could see this as a way to integrate learning with social media. I don't see anyone working to take down George Washington's, Abraham Lincoln's, or Richard Nixon's Facebook page any time soon.

[h 4]

04:17 PM on 02/25/2012

I'm glad they did this, I hope they oppress people enough that they stop going to that stupid website.

I have 5 facebook accounts for myself and I hate everyone of them.

[flarkle]

01:17 PM on 02/25/2012

Why doesn't this web developer just develop a website as a tribute?

[Barbarian At The Gate]

11:55 PM on 02/25/2012

Supposedly he has a Youtube Channel already. Facebook, although very popular, doesn't sound like the right media outlet.

[Highball]

11:40 AM on 02/25/2012

Well, that's Facebook for you.

There's a reason I have never joined, and this is a perfect example.

[Errant]

11:01 AM on 02/25/2012

Good. Nip this in the bud before it becomes a thing. Before we have internet shrines dedicated to our deified celebrities that have since passed.

[husky22]

07:32 AM on 02/25/2012

BS! One can create as many profiles as he or she wants, all you have to have is an e-mail. So I don't understand why they would ban something that is clearly a tribute to Steve Jobs.

[sadwitness]

01:19 PM on 02/25/2012

Because he is dead and someone is using HIS name to create a profile. You can have as many profiles of your own, as you wish to have but you are not allowed to put up one that represents the identity of another person. There are plenty out there but this one stood out...Oh well.

[Jennie K DillerDaniels]

08:31 PM on 02/24/2012

then what about the people that make facebook pages about the people in their lives that have died? aren't they basically saying that memorial pages are essentially not allowed since the person that it is meant for cannot give their permission to do it-not just steve jobs?

[FreelanceWriter]

01:11 PM on 02/25/2012

The irony of this is that you're totally correct.

On the one hand, Facebook is basically saying "You have no right to create a timeline for Steve Jobs because you're NOT Steve Jobs. Because each Facebook account is meant to ONLY be for/about the person that created/registered it.

But that's a total CROCK since the whole POINT of Facebook is "social interaction" and posting pictures of you AND friends at parties...trading information and pics and links...etc, etc, etc. Which is why you're right. The irony of this is that Facebook is ALSO basically saying "Hey, that person you loved or were friends with? That died? Yeah, when they were ALIVE, it was okay to share as much as possible. But now that they're DEAD, you just lost the right to post a tribute to them."

[sadwitness]

01:23 PM on 02/25/2012

In most cases those are pages created by the individual in life and maintained by others after death. I see a big difference there. Who knows how Mr Jobs would have felt about having this page appear after his death, he seemed to be a pretty control centered being- I doubt he would have liked or allowed it.

[theveggiedude]

04:47 PM on 02/25/2012

facebook.com/brucelee

Obviously, Bruce Lee did not make this while he was alive.
It is created and maintained by his daughter.

If one of Steve close relatives wants to make a page for him, now they can.

[lymartinco]

08:04 PM on 02/24/2012

Why not Honor Steve in a different way...

[JW Dewdney]

07:33 PM on 02/24/2012

Yeah?? and? so what? You're not allowed to impersonate real people... should be common knowledge to all.

[tori griffith]

06:07 PM on 02/24/2012

That makes no sense! Smdh!

[myrants]

06:04 PM on 02/24/2012

Really, Columbusbuck?? First of all, it's 'Of all the people he could HAVE chosen to honor...' but besides that, people can honor whomever they choose. If he had chosen someone else, you'd probably complain about that, too. Lau was a web developer so Jobs probably impacted his life in some way and I don't know about you but I typically want to honor people who impact my life in a positive and meaningful way.