Buzzfeed yesterday published an article about a woman whod spent the past five years trying to get Facebook to take down a Business Page dedicated to her butthole. She was told several times the page didnt violate the social networks community standards, but shortly after Buzzfeed ran the story the Page was removed.
The Business Page, titled Samantha Rae Anna Jespersens Butthole appears to have been auto-generated in 2012. Its unclear exactly what the criteria is for these Pages, but its likely the Page was created when someone abused the check-in feature of the platform. Credit: Buzzfeed
The Page itself had the following statement before Facebook removed it:
This unofficial Page was created because people on Facebook have shown interest in this place or business. Its not affiliated with or endorsed by anyone associated with Samantha Rae Anna Jespersens Butthole.
This is a typical business Page with a map to the business and the ability to recommend it to other people on Facebook.
Buzzfeed reports that Jespersen was 15 at the time of the pages generation and didnt become aware of it until 2014 when she realized that it was the top result on Google Search when querying her name.
She told reporter Katie Notopoulos that she feared potential employers would see it when vetting her:
I feel like if anybody has found it, it would probably feel way too weird to talk to me about it. And if I didnt get a job over it, they definitely wouldnt call me and say, Hey, found the Page about your butthole, not going to hire you, bye.
Gizmodos Whitney Kimball reached out to Facebook shortly after the Buzzfeed article was published and a company representative asked for a link to the page. It was subsequently removed.
Credit: Gizmodo
Facebook repeatedly denied Jespersens attempts to have the page taken down despite the fact that the business clearly didnt exist and the name of the page itself was targeted harassment. Jespersens frustration eventually led her to Reddit, where she solicited help from the r/legaladvice community. According to Gizmodo, shes unsure yet what legal steps she might take, but historically her options might be limited.
Read: EU top court rules Google doesnt need to apply the right to be forgotten globally
Its likely that Jespersens complaints to Facebook never saw human eyes. The social network doesnt disclose exactly how it handles takedown requests, but it seems rational that any human would reasonably determine that a non-existent business named after a womans butthole violates Facebook community standards.
Interestingly, whenever experts bring up the fact that Facebook or YouTubes algorithms arent sufficient for protecting people from this type of harm, the companies tend to point out that they augment their automated systems with human oversight. This doesnt appear to be the case here.
The only other option for Jespersen was to claim the Page for her own, but she was unable to do so because Facebook requested a business phone number and required proof that the business was at the address stated.
It certainly appears as though Jespersen would have been without recourse had it not been for a major mainstream news outlet picking up her plight and exposing Facebooks complete inability to serve its users properly.
It shouldnt take an article on Buzzfeed to get Facebook to protect us from its algorithms. But if youve had a similar experience with Facebook or other social media companies, you might want to reach out to a member of the press.
TNW contacted Facebook for comment, well update this article if we receive a response.
Facebook Wont Remove This Womans Butthole As A Business Pageon Buzzfeed News
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