Uutiset - News

Dear Facebook,

I´ve had an account since November 2007. I´ve published a lot, mostly about the things that have amused me, upset me or that I have in general, found interesting. I´ve liked peoples´ posts million times, I also commented on company pages, products - and yes, I have fallen for marketing, too. I also know I have been profiled thoroughly and that data has been sold a zillion times for good profit, none of which I ever saw.

And I´m fine with that. If I want to keep something to myself, I won´t say a word about in Facebook, simple as that. I have about 750 friends - and I admit, I haven´t met or even really know all of them. They are people that I have something in common; work, hobbies, likes, interests, etc.

Which brings me to my issue. Guns. Facebook has taken a strict policy concerning guns. It ofcourse only seems to concern private folks, who perhaps would like to sell or buy a gun or a gun part. Even rifle scopes seem to fall under the highly suspicious items, which should not be mentioned. The companies, ofcourse are free to advertise their products - shotguns, rifles, pistols - whatever - as long as Facebook can collect. I don´t mind Facebook being a profitable business, go ahead, make a billion bucks for all I care!

But the double standard is appalling! Private, law abiding citizens cannot trade guns/gun parts, but it´s okay to advertise them, if you are a big company?! The EU has a strict gun directive, which makes us - legal gun owners - even more law abiding citizens to be able to keep our guns and continue a very nice hobby, which is not very different from fencing or car sports or riding. If we choose to, hurting other people is very easy, all it takes is a keyboard - and that happens all the time. Well, I happen to be a strong defender of free speech, too. Making someone upset should never be a cause to silence someone. Therefore, even if I despise some people because of the way they behave in the social media (and elsewhere), I can always choose to ignore their message. Also spreading non-facts is something where everybody should think critically - source does count!

To sum up - I still have an account in the Facebook. If I stop being active, my market value decreases and Facebook can no longer make money off me. I would lose contacts that I otherwise would never have even made, I would loose a lot of fun stuff published by my friends and others, and I would loose news and fake news. SO I would live on just fine. If you want to make everything neat and tidy,  and not upset anybody - it will no longer be interesting and you will have created a censorship society. I do not want to be a part of that. Facebook, it´s up to you now.