New social networking site Google+ is facing a major backlash after a surge in the number of accounts that have been suspended as part of Google’s “real name” policy.
The site has already attracted over 20 million users, but Google requires that profiles use real names and not pseudonyms.
But the move has been criticised, as many people – such as political dissidents, celebrities and stalking victims to name but a few – like to remain anonymous online. According to some reports, people have even lost access to all of their Google accounts.
One disgruntled user wrote in a blog: “To be clear, the stories we’re hearing so far are of people being suddenly frozen out of EVERYTHING, all their data and resources, not just one or a few Google functions. Given who we early adopters are, even a few more days of this unreasonable behaviour could abort the whole G+ effort.”
Others are even getting banned without knowing why. A complaint written by @thomasmonopoly is currently doing the rounds on Twitter: “On July 15 2011 you turned off my entire Google account. You had absolutely no reason to do this, despite your automated message telling me your system ‘perceived a violation’.
“I did not violate any Terms of Service, either Google’s or account specific ToS, and your refusal to provide me with any proof otherwise makes me absolutely certain of this. And I would like to bring to your attention how much damage your carelessness has done. My Google account was tied to nearly every product Google has developed, meaning that I lost everything in those accounts as well.”
