Facebook’s “real name” policies have caused some turbulence and unhappiness, but have, for the most-part, been well-tolerated. That is not the case for everyone however, as Facebook suspended an Australian man’s account for using a name believed to be fake. The man in question is named Phuc Dat Bich.
Phuc Dat Bich — which is actually pronounced more closely to “Phoo Da Bic” than to a profane sentence — was extremely angry with Facebook, and sent out a “rant.” According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Phuc Dat Bich said “I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it… I’ve been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive. Is it because I’m Asian? Is it?” This message went viral all over Facebook, and Bich now has over 18,000 followers. While Bich’s account has since been restored, his rant is still being read. This is not the only time Facebook has made such mistakes, though it is arguably the most high-profile of them.
Facebook has apologized en masse … saying it recognized and apologized for the pain and difficulty that the trans community had gone through over the past few weeks.
He wasn’t the only one who was having issues with the real name policy — according to Cosmopolitan, the LGBT community was also up in arms, as the real names policy did not allow for transgender people to change their names after they transitioned.
Facebook has apologized en masse to this community, saying it recognized and apologized for the pain and difficulty that the trans community had gone through over the past few weeks. Facebook is making a change to address the concerns of LGBT users — while the real name policy will still be in effect, it will be permissible to change your name with proper identification.
