Why Indymedia still matters: Facebook deletes political pages in the UK

In a lesson as to why non-corporate independant activist sites like Indymedia still matter in the Age of Facebook and Twitter, Facebook deleted 50 political pages in the UK on the day of the Royal Wedding. Facebooks lame cover for this blatant act of censorship on behalf of the UK state was that the pages had been set up as individual profiles not a group pages.

The groups included:

Open Birkbeck
UWE Occupation
Chesterfield Stopthecuts
Camberwell AntiCuts
IVA Womensrevolution
Tower Hamlets Greens
No Cuts
ArtsAgainst Cuts
London Student Assembly
Beat’n Streets
Roscoe ‘Manchester’ Occupation
Bristol Bookfair
Newcastle Occupation
Socialist Unity
Whospeaks Forus
Ourland FreeLand
Bristol Ukuncut
Teampalestina Shaf
Notts-Uncut Part-of UKUncut
No Quarter Cutthewar
Bootle Labour
Claimants Fightback
Ecosocialists Unite
Comrade George Orwell
Jason Derrick
Anarchista Rebellionist
BigSociety Leeds
Slade Occupation
Anti-Cuts Across Wigan
Firstof Mayband
Don’t Break Britain United
Cockneyreject
SWP Cork
Westiminster Trades Council
York Anarchists
Rock War
Sheffield Occupation
Central London SWP
North London Solidarity
Southwark Sos
Save NHS
Rochdale Law Centre
Goldsmiths Fights Back
Occupy Monaco

The reason groups choose to set up as individual profiles with "friends" as opposed to Groups with "members" is that the Facebook set up allows individual profiles to share messages on walls far more easily than with Group pages. The widespread practice of Groups doing this is not sinister but merely a result of the technical set up of Facebook. The timing of the deletion of these left accounts on the day of the Royal Wedding and in the build up to the May Day weekend cannot be coincidental.

As more and more activist groups conduct their activities within the corporate walls of Facebook it should never be forgotten it is a profit company who will work when the state when requested. The recent corporation collaboration with the US Government in the persectuion of Wikileaks and Julian Assange should have destroyed forever the myth the anything on the net controlled by corporations is free of state control. That is why it is important that while Indymedia and other activist sites may use Facebook as a portal and information sharing tool, we must always host our information elsewhere in non-corporate sites that we control as much as possible. Viva Indymedia!

To read more about this case of corporate censorship:
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/8923

http://blog.ucloccupation.com/2011/04/29/over-50-political-accounts-dele...

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/facebook-deactivates-pr...

http://anticutsspace.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/political-facebook-groups-...