Is Facebook Racist?
I think Facebook might be racist, y’all — for realz!
Facebook reminds me that what I got to say and the way I got to say it don’t fly with them. I get invited to “boost” every one of my posts. I don’t really give a fuck about boosting shit, but if that shits an option, I wanna think it’s available to me too. So, for the hell of it, I give it a shot. That’s the power of Facebook advertising, I guess. Guess what? They rejected my shit! They told me my shit wasn’t suitable for advertising.
Y’all thinking “Pink, though, your shit is edgy AF!” Sure, I use some frigging harsh language. I’m choosing to write in a voice that reflects my experience as a Crazy Queer Black Radical Atheist. I use a voice in common with world as I see it. It’s certainly familiar enough that most o’ y’all know what the fuck I’m talking about. Whatever, I cleaned my shit up. I took out all the so-called swear words (which, be honest, y’all, most of y’all use those words on a daily basis). Turns out it wasn’t the swear words. Facebook didn’t like my frigging grammar!
Here’s where I gotta call racism, or at least classism. In order to promote my work on Facebook, I gotta adhere to some fucking standard of grammar? Who decided on the standard? A computer. The advertisers? A fucking intern? Facts, y’all. Think of the implications of that shit. That means as an artist, I can’t use a voice that identifies my characters outside of a particular level education and culture. It means I actually have to be intimate (meaning have) that level education and culture (which the average person does not!)
This is from Facebook’s corporate site:
“Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.”
Obviously, Facebook could give a shit about the community I might be trying to build. They sure as fuck don’t want me to express myself—not honoring my experience and in a way people I want to reach will immediately identify. I doubt Donald Trump could write an article that Facebook would approve. Donald Trump, however, doesn’t have to write shit. They can just pay to have it edited to reach however many people they want. Not hating on the Don. Being honest.
Is it me, or does anybody else see a problem here?
