Followers of a Russian Football Coach get Zucced on Facebook for Mentioning his Name

The coach of the Volgograd Rotor Football club says he is suing Facebook because apparently, people that tag is name in comments get a one week Zucc.

Dmitry Khokhlov has a surname that is derived from the word “khokhol”, a pre-modern designation for “Ukrainian”, for instance Nikolai Gogol, the writer, referred to himself as “khokhol”. Today however the word is often used pejoratively. Some very smart person in Facebook therefore thought banning the entire word would somehow make Facebook a better place.

Now the algorithm bans anyone using that word. Including when addressing Mr. Khokhlov. I personally think that suing Facebook is a waste of energy. The public must be aware that Facebook is not a platform, where you can safely engage in discussion of whatever topic. You never know where the Zucc is gonna come from. I personally was zucced for a photo of Joseph Goebbels, that was caption with the words: “the media are behaving like Goebbels now.” You cannot have satire on that website, and a historian trying to discuss the Nazi regime would as well be banned for that photo.

When I was still on Facebook, I was Zucced for a photo from the Bengal Famine. It should have dawned on me then that Facebook is rife with ridiculous censorship and not a platform that is friendly to its users. Imagine being treated like this in any offline setting, these people would soon be out of business.

Any public figure needs to have a website and encourage his followers to go there for information first instead of relying on Facebook.