Facebook has a mountain of lawyers – and one of them recently appeared in Moncada court, in a modern-day case reminiscent of David versus Goliath
If you can’t think of a reason why the Spanish courts are overloaded with cases, here is an example of some of the things they’re dealing with. A business owner in Alboraya – a town just outside Valencia – recently sued Facebook for closing his profile on the social network.
The plaintiff claims that closing his account damaged not only his brand but also his reputation. He claimed that the bank had almost closed its line of credit when they saw that his profile on the social media platform was permanently closed. His new status has also confused a number of suppliers and customers.
If you thought Facebook was a faceless organisation with only robots responding to your queries, you’re wrong. They also have real people working for them. The Facebook lawyer appeared before the Court of Moncada and dismissed the charges, arguing that the plaintiff had opened a private Facebook account, instead of a business account. He used the first word of his company name as his name, and the second as his surname, added his age and sex and hoped for the best.
This practice is prohibited by Facebook rules and they will close these types of accounts because, as a business, you are limited in what you can do. Among other things, you are not allowed to directly befriend private individuals or participate in the majority of Facebook groups. Turns out, this was not the first time the plaintiff had tried this trick. Facebook had already closed a personal account of his used for business purposes, and after changing the accent on one of the words, he opened it again.
Since this is an obvious publicity stunt, we are not going to reveal the name of the company in question. It’s a trivial case that won’t go much further than the court of Moncada, but it makes a great headline. Sorry, pal – but thanks for making us laugh…
© 2021: Little Alboraya Takes On The Mighty Facebook – TheValencian
