I've been publishing a series of interviews with Second Life Artist Ozymandius King when I received news that Facebook is terminating his account. The first thought that came to mind was, “Why is this happening?”
As a subscriber to Facebook I routinely delete posts from random strangers spamming me with commercials for mega corporations, invites to play Facebook games and pornographic images. Although I would rather not waste my time deleting these posts, I accept that this is what Facebook is about, it is a virtual market place where the streets are littered with digital flyers. And it isn’t only the Facebook friends who spam you. Facebook is constantly bombarding you with advertising while using your likes and shares to provide mega corporations with valuable marketing research statistics. So why is Facebook targeting a person who is providing a service by promoting a website where artists can showcase and share their work?
Although new to Second Life, Ozymandius King has been awarded a fellowship with the Windlight Art Gallery and currently has art exhibitions with the Sisse Singhs Art Gallery and the Horus Art Gallery. He has also contributed to the SL Newser as a photojournalist and is a writer, model and photographer with MAGE Magazine. I leave the individual to judge the quality of his work, but I find nothing obscene or offensive about anything he has produced under the name Ozymandsius King. So again, I ask the question, Why is Facebook terminating Ozymandius King?
Perhaps the best person to answer this question is the MAGE King, himself.
“On September 11, 2015 I received a notification from Facebook that they were going to delete my account if I did not change my current name “Ozymandius King” to my real life name. What I don’t understand is why they chose to target me, as there are millions of Facebook subscribers who use nom de plumes. In Second Life I am known as Ozymandius and the only reason why I use Facebook is to promote my work as a Second Life Artist. So I’m not going to change my name, which means that on September 18, 2015 Facebook will terminate my account."