Facebook Market Place Warning

[Nick]

Some of Facebook's T&C are toxic. Some may be not enforceable in the EU (or UK).

It's not free. The users are monetised and Zuckerberg has been before USA and UK elected officials and well, read the questions and answers.

It's doing people a favour if they are blocked. Also there is no law against a pseudonym if it's not fraud. John Le Carré and Cordwainer Smith are "fake names".

And they HAVE sold usage/personal information. They are not honest about data collection or usage. Many F buttons on other sites run Facebook scripts. They track and collect info on people that have not signed up. As do Google. Both are under investigation. There are plenty of pitfalls on Amazon and eBay without signing up to use a Market place on one of the least moderated/policed sites on the Internet.

You may not agree with their T&Cs, so don't sign up to them.

It's free in that you don't hand over money. There is payment in kind, e.g. they throw adverts at you, but under GDPR you have to explicitly agree to that. If you don't read and agree to the T&Cs, don't use it.

"John Le Carré" and "Cordwainer Smith" are not "fake names", they are professional pen-names. Professional names, as in stage and pen-names are explicitly allowed - you can create a page for that from your personal profile (the one with your real name on it!) - you still have to give your real, legal name and details as well. No mention was made of the law or a legal obligation to use your real name when signing up - it's a part of the T&Cs that you agree to (or not, in your case). If you don't supply your real name, and they can (and do) terminate your access. David John Moore Cornwell signed up to Facebook (his profile is private), and then he created a page for John Le Carré - if you look closely at the page you'll see a little blue tick by the page name. This indicates that Facebook has verified that this is indeed the official page of a public personality.

In your opinion being blocked from Facebook may be doing you a favour, but do you speak for everyone?

Oh, and just because they're "under investigation" does not mean they're guilty of anything - they might well be, but it's not proven until the courts say so. I'd remind you that where there's money involved, every man and their dog wants a part of it, and regrettably, litigation is a fact of life for those in that position.