Advertisement
Dublin: 7 °C Friday 29 March, 2024
Facebook

Salman Rushdie vs Facebook

The author found himself up against Facebook when the social networking giant tried to make him use his birth name, Ahmed, on the site.

IF YOU TRIED to ‘like’ Salman Rushdie on Facebook friend recently, you might have been in for a real surprise – because the social networking giant told him he could only use his birth name, Ahmed.

The author of The Satanic Verses tweeted that the company was “forcing me to change my FB name from Salman to Ahmed Rushdie” – which he compared to “forcing J Edgar to become John Hoover”.

Calling the company “morons”, he said that the page had been reactivated under his birth name of Ahmed Rushdie, despite “the world” knowing him as Salman.

The decision stemmed from the fact Rushdie used his passport to verify for Facebook that it was him behind his Facebook page – so they reactivated it using the name on the official document.

After less than an hour, Facebook complied with Rushdie’s wishes, leading him to tweet:

Rushdie subsequently received an apology from Facebook – and took to the site to tell ‘Ahmed’: “get back into the passport where you belong. Salman returns”.

Your Voice
Readers Comments
2
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.