[medyadaily]

I have a personal story from inside facebook to share. 5 years ago Facebook recruiter reached out to me and invited me to the W hotel in Chicago. I was very excited -not for the job- but for the opportunity to meet with senior Facebook managers and tell them about an evil thing Facebook does.

Here is the background story:

I am Kurdish from Iran. And Iran has many provinces. one of them is called Kurdistan. In Facebook profile section for Hometown you could pick all of the Iranian provinces except Kurdistan.

And at first I thought it was a bug. For years and years we submitted bug reports and collected petitions for Facebook they never responded why the Kurdistan province cannot be picked while other provinces could be picked.

Till one day, An internal document -guidance- leaked out of Facebook. That explained it all ! One of the pages was talking about Kurdistan. In which they had explained any reference to Kurdistan is considered terrorism. That was on the request of Turkish government.

In "Turkey", the word Kurdistan is forbidden. and many people in Turkey been prisoned for speaking Kurdish. however in "Iran" we officially have a province called "Kurdistan Province). and Iranian government recognizes the name Kurdistan for my homeland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Iran

But Facebook decided to enforce the Turkish government racist rule on other countries that have Kurdistan (Iran, Iraq, Syria...)

Also in that leaked guidance memo. Kurdistan flag was considered illegal. And hundreds of Kurdish pages and accounts got banned for having Kurdistan flag.

While Kurdish flag is illegal in Turkey. Kurdish flag is officially recognized in the Constitution of Iraq for Kurdistan regional government.

So when they invited me to W Hotel to recruit me. I was like yes finally I can meet the people in person. Because as a Kurd I have no importance and they will never respond to me but a software engineer I am pretty attractive on the market.

So I asked the question from one of the managers. And told them my story this for years and years I send them emails and nobody got back to me and we made petitions about this so-called bug.

He said these things are decided by higher management.

I told him how often do you show this disagreement to higher managers or Mark Zuckerburg's policies if you have a different opinion. He responded if I disagree with them I wouldn't work there.

I left the W Hotel in Chicago 5 years ago refusing to proceed with a job on FB. I knew Facebook is on the wrong path. And today I see that prediction coming true.

Even today when Turkey committed a massacre in Kurdish city of Afrin, Facebook blocked many voices inside the city who were showing massacres by Turkish government.

10 years ago FB came after kurds and you said not my problem. Today they are coming after all of us

[dopamean]

I listen to a podcast called OnTheMedia and they had an episode recently that talked a bit about the politics behind Google Maps. Basically it was about how GM draws borders and names locations in disputed areas (Palestine, Crimea, Kashmir, etc). They didn't mention FB or FB's rules on Kurdistan but you may still find it interesting.

[medyadaily]

Thanks for the information, is that NPR's on the media? btw Kurdistan Province in Iran is not a disputed area, it is officially part of iranian constitution that we have a province called Kurdistan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Iran) so in facebook you could choose any of the provinces of Iran, except Kurdistan.

[dopamean]

Yup that's the right one. Here's a link straight to it: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-16

[this_user]

I don't think this is specifically a FB problem, but a problem that globally operating Internet companies in general face: You will be dealing with different groups and countries that have different views about things, and it is next to impossible to avoid being dragged into these political issues. Take map services as an example. There are lots of controversial borders out there, and no matter what you do, you're going to to antagonise someone.

There are also things like data protection laws like the EU's "right to be forgotten" that allows an individual to request the removal of their personal information. Of course, you're now dealing with the situation that the EU is effectively trying to enforce its rules worldwide since the information would not just have to be deleted for users from the EU but for everyone.

In the end, there is no perfect solution, and it comes down to who has more power to impose their will on these companies. In your case, FB is clearly more afraid of getting into trouble with Turkey than the Kurds. Same goes for a lot of what China wants.

[medyadaily]

That is not the case in this case !

Let say FB wants to do everything Turkey wants, Fine ! ban Kurdistan word and Kurdish language for inside Turkey. (sounds horrific but just to go with your poor loginc, lets do that) BUT still according to your logic...

INSIDE IRAN- word kurdistan is not forbiden, Iran OFFICIALLY has a province called Kurdistan, it is on Iran's official Map.

and I am a Kurd from Iranian Kurdistan, and facebook deleted many Iranian Kurds for posting Kurdish material.

That is a flat disgusting targeting an ethnic group.

That is a no brainer, do not make it like Facebook is an innocent company, trying to not get dragged into regional conflicts.

All I am saying they first came for Kurds you said not my problem. That is a regional Others Problem.

Now they are coming for you. Taste it ! Facebook will screw all you over so bad. just wait and see it happening !

[medyadaily]

plus you missed out on the ending part, which FB managers told me they are discouraged from disagring with policies of Mark Z