A man who has cost people their jobs by reporting anti-immigration comments made on their private Facebook accounts to their employers has been granted anonymity in a media report about his actions. The man, known only as “David” describes himself as a “social justice warrior” and a “good man”.
Along with four friends, David scours Facebook for anti-immigration comments, which he screenshots, along with the user’s name and profile information and passes along to their employers. He was prompted to do so after visiting a refugee camp himself.
Some of that information has led to those he has targeted losing their jobs, although he does not say how many people that has happened to.
“I am fighting for Facebook to make it a more human place,” he told the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung when they profiled him this week.
Most people using Facebook do so openly, displaying their real name alongside photos of themselves with their families and friends, even tagging their most recent locations.
In contrast, David, who clearly believes in what he is doing, and tells the paper that he does not want want be known as a coward, has chosen to conceal his identity citing the threat of personal attacks by those who he has made unemployed.
“I would like to stand with my name on this. I am not ashamed of it, but do it out of conviction.
“But if you receive death threats via email every day then you do question [whether to reveal your identity]. Courage can be confused with stupidity.”
Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas has today met with Facebook to discuss how to curb so-called ‘racist’ posts and comments on the social media site.
“Facebook users are, in particular, complaining increasingly that your company is not effectively stopping racist ‘posts’ and comments despite their pointing out concrete examples,” wrote Maas in a letter to Richard Allen, Facebook’s public policy director, in August.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.