Facebook Apologizes to LGBT Community for Real-Name Controversy, Vows Changes

Facebook promised to overhaul its reporting and enforcement process regarding its real-name policy in an effort to quell the controversy that erupted last month, when several drag queens and other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community saw their accounts suspended for not using their legal names.

WeApologize650Facebook promised to overhaul its reporting and enforcement process regarding its real-name policy in an effort to quell the controversy that erupted last month, when several drag queens and other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community saw their accounts suspended for not using their legal names.

Chief product officer Chris Cox issued an apology via a Facebook post Wednesday, blaming the issue on a single Facebook user mass-reporting the accounts of drag queens, drag kings, transgenders and other members of the LGBT community, and stressing that the social network will not mandate the use of legal names, but will still require users to identify themselves with the “authentic name they use in real-life.”

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