My last blog explored the societal downsides (some of them at least) of social media platforms. I focused on the systemic processes inherent in their operational models that tend toward increased tribalization and radicalization, or what we think of as identity politics. In this new humble offering, I share my personal experiences on Facebook.

[Note Bene: Other than Facebook, I ignore most social media platforms. I explore YouTube very occasionally but only to look at reenactment of historical events like Civil War battles. I did join Twitter but exited when Elon Musk bought it.]

I had never considered joining any of the platforms that were all the buzz some 15 years ago. But around 2009, I bought an updated smartphone and saw how easy it was to join Facebook. I joined mostly out of curiosity. Slowly, it must be acknowledged, I was drawn in … especially after I was able to connect with my old college sweetheart from the 1960s. Cool, I thought.

Over time, I found my number of so-called ‘friends’ growing … not totally sure why. I never spent much time on the platform … usually surfing the posts of others and reposting those I thought humorous, thoughtful, or politically spot-on. Undoubtedly, others agreed since my number of friends soon hit 5,000 (their limit). Then, people started joining me as what were termed ‘followers.’ My reach was spreading quickly.

As these numbers grew, so did my problems with Facebook. I kept getting punished by being unable to use the platform (put in Facebook jail or what I called their Gulag) for increasing amounts of time. Yet, my number of friends and followers kept going up … first to 10,000, then to 20,000, and finally approaching 30,000. Toward the end, I was adding 50 to 100 new followers most days. A few of my posts would get hundreds and even thousands of responses. I felt like a ‘rock star.’

I’m retrospect, my increasing number of stints in the Facebook gulag occurred as they (and other social media giants) were coming under increasing scrutiny for negatively impacting both society and our political institutions. So, I guess I fell victim to their blind lashing out at what they considered serial miscreants. Of course, they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) look at their core business model as the source of the problem (see my prior blog). No, they went after individual ‘bad actors’ like me 😉.

Their efforts were, however, laughable in the extreme. I was being thrown in jail for using humor and irony while others were systemically promulgating hate and thus consciously dividing us as a society. Yes, there were some real bad actors out there (like Russian trolls in St. Petersburg being paid to intetfere with the 2016 election). I was not one of them (though I am for sale given the right bribe 😀). But the real culprits, those who were profiting from corporate decisions that subtly tore America apart, remained unexamined.

In my professional life, I spent a lot of time looking at how organizations are structured and how their institutional cultures function. Facebook’s had a ‘community standards’ program which was purportedly designed to protect consumers from nefarious sorts who spread misinformation and hate filled propoganda. Admittedly, this is a huge task given the numbers of daily posts. Unfortunately, their attempt was totally laughable … one of the most inept self-policing efforts imaginable. It is as if they consciously were trying to screw things up. This is to be expected given the growth of the platform and the financial risks associated with any honest attempt to address the issue.

To start with, the threat was less about individuals posting clearly offensive material as opposed to systemic faults built into the bedrock of their business and operating models. It is the increased engagement fed by heightened emotional content leading to more corporate profit cycle I explored in the last blog. They would lash out at my humor (and other hapless individuals) while ignoring their own algorythms that led the unsuspecting FB user deeper into paranoid conspiracy worlds but, and this is critical, kept them engaged and thus boosting revenues.

For example, around one election time, I posted a meme that said Election day is next Tuesday for Democrats and next Wednesday for Republicans. It was clearly a joke. You had to see the humor, either that or believe that Republicans are as dumb as they apparently are. But it was another 30 days in the FB slammer for me.

You never knew when the hammer would fall. Sometimes, you could not even figure out what your crime was. They would merely refer you to their community standards statement which was so vague as to be worthless. Anything could be a crime or nothing might be. Thus, there was no way to correct your behavior to avoid future penalties. The process was mysterious and seemingly discretionary. Thus, it was entirely useless and pointless.

On the community standards propoganda they did agree to share with us, the FB brass claimed to take into account the context in which memes were posted and that they made every attempt to be culturally sensitive. They implied that posts were scrutinized carefully before the hammer fell. You would have to be naive beyond description to believe that one. I was convinced that any humans involved were outsourced cheap labor from Malaysia who could not possibly understand sophisticated humor. More likely, these decisions were made by digital algorithms focused on preselected targets.

When I would get back on (after serving my penalty), typically for short periods of time before the hammer fell again, there was a lot of traffic among my FB friends about the crazy reasons individuals were being punished. The FB decisions all seemed bizarre and random. And no one could comprehend why I was picked out AS A CONVENIENT PUNCHING BAG. I was, after all, pretty funny and quite inoffensive (though liberal). Most argued that right-wing trolls were trying to get me off the platform and that I should prune my friend and follower lists of said reprobates (an impossible task).

I recall one time when I posted a defense of part of their own community standards rules. In one section, they argued that certain words were not inherently offensive. It was how they were used that was the problem. I agreed with this and wanted to show support. However, I did use a few examples of what I was talking about. Another 30 days in their Gulag for my attempt to DEFEND THEIR OWN RULES.

Eventually I was banned for life a second time! The first time occurred, as I noted, when I had 30,000 friends and followers. I almost packed it in, but eventually got back on as Jim Corbett … quickly getting back up to 7,000 friends and followers before (after a series of minor incarcerations) I was hit with my second lifetime ban. My unforgivable felony this time was a beauty.

I posted the picture above. It is the 1936 Olympic games with the iconic Jesse Owens getting a gold medal in the long jump competition. (He won 4 gold medals, thus infuriating Hitler with his Aryan superiority nonsense). I am certain that the white man in the podium is a German athlete named Lutz. He helped Jesse in the competition, during which they became good friends. And despite his Nazi salute, he was not a Hitler fan. His opposition to the regime eventually got him sent to the front lines in Italy during the war where he was killed.

The version of the meme I posted contained a comment that FDR, fearing a reaction from southern Democrats, never invited the Game’s American hero (Jesse Owens) to the White House. I added a personal comment that FDR was in a tough place politically. He needed those votes from the Southern Racists in his own party to get his economic programs passed and thus lift the country out of a global depression.

That was it! My post recognized an American hero and tried to explain why an iconic President made an unfortunate (in hindsight) decision. Seems innocuous enough. But no matter … I was again banned for life. I still can not believe it. Even as social media was leading society into a tribalized, highly polarized, society, I was deemed a threat for posting a picture of an American icon during an historical moment we treasure to this day (the relatively recent movie titled Race highlighted Jesse’s accomplishments). The incompetence of Facebook beggars the imagination.

Once again, I managed to get back on under my own name. However, I can only access FB on my phone (not my computer) and I only seem to have limited access. But it is something. Of course, each time I must start from scratch. After a year, I have accumulated somewhat more than 4,000 friends once again. Oddly enough, I have not been thrown in their jail once this time around. I have no idea why since I have not changed my approach or behavior in the least. I still post a selection of humor, wisdom, and mild political views.

I find it all amusing. The FB guardians went after harmless folk like me with a vengeance while groups clearly hostile to our best interests seemed beyond reach. I guess you batter the easy targets while letting the real miscreants get away, especially if they are embedded within your own organization. So sad. Then, again, perhaps it is all be design, or am I falling into the conspiracy trap into which they guilessly lead so many others 🤔.