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Does Facebook Love Obama Too Much?

by Terrence O'Brien on August 16, 2008 at 11:02 AM

Does Facebook Support Obama?
A little over a month ago, a mini-trend among Obama supporters took off on Facebook where users changed their middle names to Hussein as a sign of solidarity with the Democratic nominee whose middle name has become fodder for right-wing conservatives. Supporters furious with certain media outlets' (cough... Fox News) insinuation that the name alone means Obama is unpatriotic, a terrorist, or a Muslim, have adopted the new name to show that a name is nothing more than a name.

Some however have begun to question what this says about Facebook, which according to its terms of service (TOS), requires your account be tied to your real name. Changing your middle name as a form of political protest would be a clear violation of the TOS, yet Facebook has allowed the changes to go through. One blogger, Jordan Golson, has even implied that the apparent exemption from the policy indicates a form of de facto support for the Democrat.

Golson claims that while Facebook allowed his name change to Jordan Hussein Golson, other name changes were never approved. However, Golson clearly didn't try too hard. We were easily able to change our middle name on Facebook to a host of different things: Hussein, McCain, even Bilbo (after the 'Lord of the Rings' character).

Facebook, despite its TOS requiring an account be tied to your real name, has little way to confirm an identity and likely automatically approves all but the most absurd name changes. [From: The Industry Standard and NY Times]

Tags: elections, facebook, hussein, obama, politics

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