Facebook may be growing at a rapid pace in Vietnam, but apparently, the social network still has some work to do when it comes to recognizing Vietnamese naming conventions.
An Aussie man by the name of Phuc Dat Bich (relevant) has been a victim of the social network’s fake name purge as his account has been repeatedly suspended.
Bich took to Facebook to voice his frustrations with a post that has been shared over 83,000 times:
I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it. I've been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive. Is it because I'm Asian? Is it? Having my fb shut down multiple times and forced to change my name to my "real" name, so just to put it out there. My name. Yours sincerely, Phuc Dat Bich
Bich even went as far as to post a picture of his passport to prove his identity (pictured above).
By last Friday, his name was trending internationally on Twitter and it seem that, for now, his moniker is safe.
Bich isn’t the only Facebook user who has been forced to prove their name. Earlier this year, a Native American woman had to provide the company with three IDs to prove that her name is Lone Hill.
Further, last October, Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox issued a public apology for the policy, conceding that it may have negatively affected drag kings, drag queens, and transgender people.
"Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what's been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook."
Facebook has since changed its name policy, but it appears that some, like Bich are still struggling to fit the social network’s criteria.
