There was mention around 6am SLT this morning on Plurk then quickly followed later on Twitter of reports saying that Facebook have been cancelling SL Facebook accounts. I saw a sudden drop in my friend count and I think many others noticed that too. Just be aware that Facebook have in the past removed many avs and will probably continue to do so.
Check out the Terms of service on Facebook.
Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
- You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
- You will not create more than one personal profile.
- If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.
- You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
- You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.
- You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.
- You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.
- You will not share your password, (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.
- You will not transfer your account (including any page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.
- If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user’s actual name).
On Twitter there were mentions…
- a lot of sl avatar named acounts are beiing deleted from facebook today.. hence the warnings and tweets today. is why
- Has anyone informed you yet that it looks as if Facebook is in process of removing all sl avatars?
- yep, it’s all happening this morning, hundreds of accounts being deleted with av names #facebook
- Blimey all the years of making a name for yourself as an artist/ musician and in one click, its ALL gone! #facebook#secondlife
- yes, a lot of my Fb ( SL) friends/fans have gone dramatically this morning too
- Yep mine was one of them
- Facebook: There are real people with real money behind Second Life Avatars so do you think it a good idea to delete them?
- Has anyone told Linden Labs that Facebook is currently kicking off Second Life Avatars off Facebook?
- They disabled mine this morn. and how do they have the right to ask me for govt id?
On Plurk there were mentions…
- Facebook is deleting sl accounts
- Facebook has deleted my 2 SL accounts
- FACEBOOK CANCELLED MY ACCOUNT
- Facebook disabled my account and now I can’t access my Facebook page
SL bloggers mentions so far today..
There are probably mentions else where but there was a big surge of deleted SL FB accounts this morning. Did anyone else notice this ?
Daniel Voyager 
It is completely within the Facebook terms of service to create and maintain a Facebook page for your Second Life endeavors. For instance, I have a Facebook page for my line of AI scripted agents (Pandorabots) at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pandorabots/219783958035664. The terms of service prohibit a personal Facebook profile for an artificial entity.
LikeLike
For those who got their FB account disabled, the following website might be useful http://www.facebookblockedaccount.com/ it gives tips on how to activate your disabled account. Assuming you didn’t breach FB TOS.
LikeLike
Thanks for the comments.
LikeLike
again! sheesh! i know it made me feel pretty crappy toward fb when my account was removed last year – i had 3900 friends!
but then, they can do what they like and they sell your data so my avatar was useless to them . . .
LikeLike
I’m puzzled as to why people advocate using different ways to still use Facebook.
I voted with my feet and pulled my RL account weeks ago. I think that’s the way to do things. Let ’em rot with their abuse of user data.
LikeLike
It would appear that Facebook has at least double standards. For example I don’t see them taking Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s page down in the very near future. But it’s not in her real name. Many musicians have “stage names” and are allowed to have pages in those names. What’s the difference between allowing that and allowing avatar names? What if you’re a musician whose stage name is their avatar name? I think LL should break off diplomatic relations and stop encouraging SL residents to do ANYTHING on Facebook.
LikeLike
There is a huge difference. A musician using a widely recognised stage name is completely acceptable, it does after all represent a real person, the name is still linked to a flesh and blood human being.
An avatar name is just that, a name associated with an avatar, not the human being behind it.
LikeLike
But Facebook *has* applied this policy to real people using well-known, documented pseudonyms. See here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/09/chinese-blogger-mark-zuckerberg-dog
LikeLike
FB sucks, and they are acting like complete Idiots. Double standards, yeah…. Because, they sure don’t delete all that fiction characters, that DO have pages and profiles such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and etc. Many many labels are there aswell… and not the REAL LIFE PERSONA — just labels.
I noticed aswell, yesterday, that lost, all of sudden around 400 contacts. It is just sad. So, i created my profile in 2nd hub.
LikeLike
AND, btw, NOBODY, can make US, reveal our true identities online and POST our real pictures… How about stalkers, psycos, and all that shit? nah… they’re complete morons in my humble point of view…
LikeLike
but Kovac, what about me? there is a boat load online for Ener Hax – 1,000’s of blog posts and 11,000 flickr pics and 25,000 twitter followers – just because you don’t see my real picture doesn’t make me less real?
if so, the radio DJs must be fake too!
or how about Shakespeare? i have never seen his pic (or Mozart’s either) but i believe they were real
LikeLike
Add me to the list of gone FB accounts.
LikeLike
@Gwyneth: 😦
LikeLike