 |
"Hey Facebook — ecce homo!" Behold the man. Robert Feder, right, in the flesh at my older son's wedding in Michigan in July. The popular social media service shut down his page Jan. 1. |
Robert Feder is a real person.
I know this from our countless interactions over the years, starting when he was the media critic at the Sun-Times. I would wander back to his tidy office on the fourth floor of 401 N. Wabash to pick his brain, schmooze, brag, complain, enjoy the pleasure of his company.
I especially liked to run thorny journalistic dilemmas past him because, as anyone who knows Feder is aware, he has an oak-ribbed ethical framework. Not just a real person, but a good one.
In the years since, I have confirmed his existence time and again, on the phone, over lunch. At his daughter's wedding and both my sons' weddings, even though attending the first involved a six-hour drive up to Northern Michigan. Who does that? A friend, I suppose.
Alas, Facebook did not ask me to verify Robert's humanity before dealing him a blow that he announced on X this way:
"As 2024 ended, Meta permanently disabled my personal Facebook account, saying it 'doesn't follow our Community Standards on account integrity.' No idea why. My appeal was denied without explanation or recourse. Now I have no access to any of my content or contacts. What now?
Robert is integrity on steroids. I groped for something to say. "Oh, that's terrible!" is the best I could do. And it is terrible. I've been on Facebook for 16 years. Part scrapbook, part mnemonic device, both a block party and a shrine to my precious self. I look at Facebook far more than I look at the sky or the grass.
Then I did what any friend does for someone who suffered a loss. I phoned.
"It's traumatic; I'm grieving," Feder said. "The fact that they could just take it away, just like that, without any human intervention, is just appalling to me."
The incident might not be worth airing in public, were it not a glimpse of the world we are all hurtling toward. Someday, we will not just get booted off of social media but admitted to — or rejected from — college without human eyes ever weighing credentials or reading essays. Medical procedures will be permitted, or denied, without an actual doctor glancing at a file.
To continue reading, click here.
Editor's note: Meta reinstated Robert Feder's Facebook account the day after this ran.
Maybe Bob can send your column to the idiots running Fecesbook & maybe they'll do something.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I'd love to know why they deleted him, what horrendous crime did he commit against that rotten site & its creepy beyond belief boss Zuckerberg, who is easily one of the single worst self hating Jews in America!
That is awful. Basically a slap in the face with a message of "you thought we were a useful utility, but this is not a partnership, we have all the control, you're just a grain of sand in our mine." It's terrible enough for an average person to lose a tool of keeping connected to friends and family, without any recourse to get it back, but so many people rely on FB for running a business and literally have their livelihoods depend on it. It might be possible to rebuild an account from scratch, but that would a monumental task.
ReplyDeleteThis type of thing, plus the spread of disinformation, plus the terrible effects on minors, there really should be more regulation on social media.
I'm on my third FB page in 15 years. And I'm just a kindly little old man. Certainly no rabble-rouser. They reach down and kick you out one day. Just lock you out and there is no recourse. So we don't cry over spilt milk. What would it help? I personally go to Outlook and create a new email account. Then I go back to FB and create another new account there under a different name using the new Outlook email account. Ergo Gustaf Rand became Moe Wulff, who morphed into Maurice St. Claire, etc, etc. And there we have it. Life goes on. Except that won't help Robert retrieve former FB content or continue to use his good name. Your good name should count for everything.
ReplyDeleteThe worth of an honest, earned "Good name" exited some time ago, was hit in the head with a shovel, dismembered and buried in an unmarked grave.
DeleteWhy? Because the incoming president is a liar, bully, fraud and traitor, a self-admitted groper accused of sexual assault by multiple women, who fomented the storming of the Capitol four years ago today, directly caused the deaths of tens if not hundreds of thousands of Americans by his science denialism, whose character is as stained a joy rag at a peep show? Yeah, there's that.
DeleteJoy rag?
DeleteHas your Google stopped working?
DeleteKnew what it was, and have first-hand knowledge, too [nyuk nyuk]. Urban Dictionary defines it as "An old piece of cloth, towel or material used to wipe off..." There are four additional words, that are better left to imaginations. Was just a little bit shaken-up (ouch) upon seeing it, that's all.
DeleteYeah, it was perhaps a bit too ... strong. Perhaps because the usual condemnation of Trump is so shopworn. Also, the standards for a comment are different than a post or a column. When I saw your inquiry I winced and considered deleting the whole thing. Would not want to be crude.
DeleteAnother word could easily be substituted for the word "joy"...
DeleteAnd it, too, starts with a J. But THAT one is crude...
As a 72 year old “old broad,” I found this exchange hysterically funny. Thanks!
DeleteGot booted off FB three years ago this month. Was allowed back on four months later. Still haven't figured out what I did to deserve either.
ReplyDeleteI left Facebook shortly before the ides of November 2016. It's one of the best things I've ever done.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, we do seem to be at the begging of a very strange time... its quite disturbing.
I hope Mr. Feder can get this resolved. Still miss his column.
ReplyDeleteHaving noticed Facebook's sharp decline over the last few years, I think they're just making sure actual human-created content doesn't get in the way of the AI-generated pink slime that clutters the platform now.
ReplyDeleteI don't Meta or do any social media. Rejected them at the signup demands and their obvious insidiousness at their first introduction. Every step the narcissist creeps have made since and their glee at infecting the human race with their emotional damage to power and wealth continually validates my visceral aversion.
ReplyDeleteI wish FaceBook would boot me off; the only "benefits" I receive are email notices that "friends" have commented, not necessarily (and not often) involving me in any way, shape or form. It's a pure waste of time, at present a lot short of a colossal waste, which would impel me to just up and quit myself, but irritating. And every once in a while, I find myself lured into making remarks about events, opinions and desires about which I know nothing and care less. Dangerous behavior, I think most would agree.
ReplyDeletejohn
I have a throwaway Facebook account that I use in cases where browsing without a login is not sufficient. Even though I opened it with a preposterous name (actually one from popular culture of 60 years ago) and zero personal information, FB still managed to correctly identify a number of people that I "should" know, and actually did.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point, though, it also listed other people that I had never seen in my life, and presumably showed me to them as well, and what it gets wrong is really more significant than what it gets surprisingly right. Ask Robert Feder.
The motherzuckers will forever do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want, often with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. It's their house, and their rules. or maybe no rules at all anymore. The clowns run the circus. it's their tent, their rings, their ringmasters, their managerie. Probably not even human clowns anymore, just zuckerbots with no sense of humor and no understanding of wit, sarcasm, jokes, and satire.
ReplyDeleteExample: Last night I found an AI meme...a WWII fighter...an FW 190...and it was labeled "The Luftwaffle"...for that was what the plane was made out of. Waffles. Wings, tail, nose...the whole megillah. And there were dozens and dozens of snarky comments...mostly great puns. Too many zingers to list here.
So I found an image of a German soldier with the usual WWII helmet...with a waffle under that traditional helmet instead of a face. The Waffle SS, get it? The Luftwaffle gave them air support and did reconaissance.
That image was immediately removed, and I was warned about supporting forbidden organizations. Practically accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. So now, you can not-see it. Maybe it was the lightning-bolt insignia. Those Zuckbots don't miss a trick, do they?
If they want a reason to fuck with you, they'll find one. Or just make one up. The Waffle SS thing is far from the first time I have been warned and threatened by Fecesbook. I'm a hopeless addict, and a member of 25 groups...yes, you read that right...25. Constant warnings and threats, accused of being a hater and told I'm violating "Community Standards". WHAT community? Facebook is far too vast to be a community anymore. WHOSE standards? Faceless mindless zuckbots who can't understand a goddamned JOKE?
I wish I could quit. I need to find a Facebook Anonymous. It's worse than the tobacco habit, which I had for 32 years. That damaged my lungs. Farcebook just damages your cabeza. I have a long rap sheet, and have been to Fakebook jail a number of times. Eventually, just as at Nextdoor and at the Washington Post, I will get the boot. And then I can take my life back.
So you can't make jokes about Nazis? Like I wrote earlier, Zuckerberg is the #1 self hating Jew on Earth, with Bernie Sanders as #2.
DeleteMaybe YOU can make jokes about Nazis. It's ME who can't do so. They obviously track certain people on their radar, and have put filters in place to monitor content, and then issue warnings and restrictions. In other words...jail time.
DeleteOnce got thirty days in the hole for calling a homeless female thief, who preyed on local merchants, a "skank." Certain words are not allowed. They will never tell you what they are. They will just punish you and then tell you what you did. Getting more and more restrictive and ridiculous by the day.
Today's essay brought back painful memories of when Instagram, Facebook's sibling, disappeared me. It was almost exactly 2 years ago. I had 10 years and almost 5,000 curated photos on the account. Vacations, walks around town, and thounds of still lifes of the Shabbat table, my wife's wonderful challa, the wine and candles.
ReplyDeleteI was devastated.
I received the same cryptic notice telling me that I had violated community standards.
I struggled to think what I might have done. I sometimes posted photos of the curtain calls at Chicago theaters or the opera. I know that they are copyrighted. But surely that couldn't be it. Since the theaters often
"liked" my posts.
Then I realized it must have been the photo of two lovely bikini clad young ladies helping me walk across volcanic sand on a beach in Guatemala. It wasn't the skimpily clad lasses, but the sight of this somewhat paunchy 80 year old man in a swimsuit that violated all sense of decency. :-)
Seriously, I followed a rather complicated appeal process which included uploading a selfie holding a piece of paper with a code I had been instructed to write on it, on my chest.
Eventually I received a reply stating they were unable to verify that I was myself.
After that, bubkis, nada, zilch.
All this, just to say, I commiserate with Robert Feder. That account was my personal diary. Places, people, memories. Gone.
Shoulda backed it up.
DeleteEasy for me to say.
Lost 17 years of Grizz Tales, at a private board.
The owner died of Covid in '21. His daughter pulled the plug.
"Grizz Tales"?
DeleteStories, Mr. S. A lot of them have also appeared here over the last seven years. Vignettes, episodes, accounts...incidents that have involved me or that have happened to me, or things that I have seen and done. Whichever raconteur once said: "There are no new stories, just new audiences..." was talking about the likes of me.
DeleteProbably should have saved some of the tales that I wrote about, bfore they went poof. But many of them are better forgotten. A lot of the things I used to point to with pride are now things I'm no longer so proud of. Some of them, I'm even ashamed of having done. There's no statute of limitations on some kinds of stupidity. They don't portray me in a very flattering light, so they will not be mentioned here. Older and wiser, I suppose...
I'm glad you referenced Kafka's "The Trial" when describing Mr Federer's experience. That parallel is what disturbs me most. Capricious, inexplicable and irreversible in addition to the actual disruption and loss. You can rail and wail and go through "proper channels", yet none of it matters. I'm so sorry this happened to a decent and respectable man, and sad that it will continue to happen, in equally unjust circumstances, in the future.
ReplyDeleteI have no problems with Facebook. Never been kicked off unlike here where I've been kicked off several times. Never been hacked. Only friends are people who I actually know and see in real life. It's terrific for keeping track of all the different cousins and nieces and nephews and their lives and their dogs and their little league games in different states where I couldn't possibly drive. I understand people who get aggravated by it. I just don't understand why they keep doing it. I'm not on Instagram. X Snapchat tick tock but I'm short of a fan of Facebook. Couldn't care less who owned it what he does with his spare time. His ethnicity, his mental health issues. I see some pictures I like. I make some comments. I made the mistake of looking up some old friends. Realized if you haven't talked to somebody in 30 years, there's probably a reason. Check it two. Maybe three times a day use the marketplace seems to work great. The messenger feature is nice so that not everybody has to see everything you have to say to everybody you talk to. I don't know why people get so bent out of shape about Facebook. I can understand Mr. Feder. He is probably using it as an advertising tool, which you know I think they encourage.
ReplyDeleteBut just as much folder all that's going on with AI and bots and such it might have not been meta that kicked you off. You might have got hacked and they told you you're kicked off and when you asked him to put you back on they were like focaccia
Good to see Bob. He looks great. Sorry about the FB problem but his column was " Must Read" everyday. He even directed me to EGD. Hope he's enjoying retirement. I miss his column/blog.
ReplyDeletekinda surprised to notice you didn't shave for your sons wedding. sorry for being judgey. when did you stop shaving. I haven't put razor to face for years but dont grow a beard. just a close clip every week or 10 days. my wife thinks I look terrible. its just so much easier
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but that's like saying you watched the episode of "House" where Hugh Laurie was unshaven. I've had a beard and mustache for at least 10 years.
DeleteThat is awful. But I’m less surprised than horrified. For a while now, we’ve been watching the deteriorating ethical landscape of social media companies.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I respect has moved to Bluesky. Looks like I’ll be joining them. But I am under no illusion that any of the “better” alternatives are exempt from succumbing to the same pressures.
Caveat: I ‘m between appointments so I don’t have time to read all the comments - apologies if this has been mentioned already.
ps - Robert Feder’s observations are my fav part of the Springer documentary.