Facebook Deactivates Account Of Woman Named ‘Isis’ In Error
A California woman named Isis Anchalee had her Facebook account deactivated apparently due to her first name, being spelt the same as the acronym used for the Islamic State extremist group.
The 22-year-old software developer in San Francisco logged into her social media account only to find out it had been suspended.
She immediately wrote to Facebook’s Twitter page (@facebook), “why would you disable my personal account? MY REAL NAME IS ISIS ANCHALEE.”
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She even sent Facebook a copy of her passport to prove her account was genuine, something she said she did three times.
Anchalee also posted on Twitter on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, “Facebook thinks I’m a terrorist. Apparently sending them a screenshot of my passport is not good enough for them to reopen my account.”
Omid Farivar, a researcher for Facebook, addressed the issue and reached her through Twitter.
He said: “Isis, sorry about this. I don’t know what happened. I’ve reported it to the right people and we’re working on fixing it.
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A Facebook spokesperson told NBC News on Wednesday: “This was an error made as part of a fake account reporting process and we’re sorry for the trouble it caused. It was not connected to the individual’s name and her account has already been restored.”
The only way to initiate a suspension is when other users report or flag down an account. Facebook confirmed this but would not comment on who or how many might have flagged down Anchalee’s account.
Meanwhile, an international activists group called “Anonymous” launched a campaign against ISIS. It is called “#OpParis” wherein it encouraged the public to help them report accounts of ISIS members.
