The Facebook Police Shut Down One Of The Most Popular Public Profiles

-Cristiano Ronaldo Image- This morning I got an email from the owner of the “Cristiano Ronaldo” public profile stating that he had been disable after attracting over 2.85 million fans. The reason? Most likely because the public profile wasn’t an official public profile and despite the owner having semi-approval from the soccer player’s agency, Facebook proceeded to shut it down. It’s not the first time we’ve seen large “unofficial” public profiles shut down.

Months ago Facebook disabled the “Homer J Simpson” public profile which had become one of the top 5 most popular profiles at the time. Facebook never told us why the public profile had been disabled but it would be safe to assume that the owner wasn’t the legitimate brand manager. Does it make sense for Facebook to aggressively shut down unofficial public profiles? Here’s a letter the owner of the Crisitiano Ronaldo public profile admin received from the player’s agency:

Dear [Profile Owner's Name],

Your Job with the page of CR is impressive, congratulations. We are developing a strategy with CR in the web and Facebook will obviously be one way. We hope that we can launch all the official pages already this year. We could cooperate in the future with this but I’ll contact you in the future with further information. Your knowledge and past would be very interested for us.

Regarding all the situations that you are putting, being a fans page, you can sell the advertising space to any company that you want. Being an official page, we can only ad Cristiano´s official sponsors. Please remember to always refer the person that owns the images and videos and that you keep as unofficial page.

I will contact you as soon as possible.

Best regards,

[Agency Representative Name]

I’m not quite sure that this is the stamp of approval from the player’s agency to be honest but the company doesn’t appear to be overly frustrated about the situation. Theoretically the agency could have worked with this individual to build a larger presence but instead they’ll now have to start from scratch. While many brands have been complaining about unofficial public profiles, this is a standard issue for any social media platform.

Twitter has tons of fake profiles and all Twitter does is shut down any username squatters. Beyond that Twitter does little to police their platform. Facebook has taken an aggressive stance and I’d assume the goal is to attract more large brand managers. Is it worth the time for Facebook to police the more than 1 million public profile that have been created so far?

This is up for debate. While Facebook attempts to appease large brand managers, Twitter’s free spirit appears to be attracting all the celebrities. Do you think Facebook should be pursuing unofficial public profile owners? How about generic public profile owners (e.g. “Pizza” or “Sleeping”)?

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548716 Comments2009-05-04+14%3A46%3A43Nick+O%27Neill »

Sounds like teens running a company.

Comment by Facebook User — May 4, 2009 @ 6:56 am
You're right. Gold stamp of approval wasn't clearly given, but there doesn't seem to be a big issue with the page's existence either.

I don't have a problem with Facebook policing the site in this way,but it might be a better solution for both sides (brands and fans) if Facebook served as the convener/mediator.

In this case, they could have brought CR's people to the table with the page creators, explained why it might be valuable to keep the page open and work out a solution.

When you have fans doing creating pages, I don't see how the brand is negatively impacted…maybe I'm missing a few things. I'll go back to an earlier thought.

It might be a good idea for Facebook to serve as the convener/mediator and even use opportunities like this to reach out to other brands, educate them on the possibilities and encourage them to create an official presence.

Comment by James S. Walker — May 4, 2009 @ 6:58 am
Why anybody would trust Facebook with anything remotely important is beyond me. The only use for Facebook is as user acquisition channel to engage and convert elsewhere.

Comment by Dmitriy Kruglyak — May 4, 2009 @ 7:02 am
I don't like seeing generic public profiles for things like pizza and sleeping. It seems to make public profiles less official. I would much rather see Facebook find a way to make public profiles for real people, celebrities, and brands only. It gives the whole idea of public profiles a sense of professionalism and a real connection to whoever or whatever the profile is for. But seeing Pages for things like "I want to sleep…5 more minutes!" is just stupid, that's something for a group, not a public profile.

Comment by Joe Funicelli — May 4, 2009 @ 7:05 am
Facebook could wait until an official complaint is expressed and then do something. I agree with James (above) about Facebook acting as a mediator or maybe more of a facilitator of communication.

Fans want to participate, communicate, and make something happen around whatever they are enjoying. The major contribution of web 2.0 tools like Facebook is that they allow the manifestation of this energy to take place in the open and in collaboration — even with the owner of the brand. Controlling the message is old thinking and self-deception — there really is no control: there is participation or not.

I encourage Facebook to remember their contribution to the world and not move backwards into the old rut of traditional corporate branding.

Comment by Kathryn Gorges — May 4, 2009 @ 7:12 am
I guess people are making pages for things like liking pizza and sleep because groups have fallen out of practice. People use them now for communicating with a group of people, like churches for instance. I don't mind them as long as the profiles don't have pointless, meaningless, and frivolous updates that clutter up my news feed. Pages like allfacebook.com are the ones that need to have updates because they actually have things going on.

It definitely seems like corporations should keep the pages open and work with the profile owners to spread the word about their brands or company or whatever. But having unofficial pages could have some sort of liability issue. And Facebook does not need any sort of court and lawyer fees, not to mention the bad publicity.

Comment by Heather Gentry — May 4, 2009 @ 8:12 am
Facebook has every right to delete any public profiles that it deems unofficial or fake? Why? Because the terms explicitly state so – and it is not hidden anywhere among a bunch of legalese. Here is what it says right below the "Create Page" button:

Note: Fake Pages and unofficial "fan pages" are a violation of our Terms of Use. If you create an unauthorized Page or violate our Terms in any way, your Facebook account may be disabled. To create a Facebook Group for fans of this subject, please click here.

Comment by Sid — May 4, 2009 @ 8:50 am
Brands brands brands! Please, no general concepts like "sleeping" or "pizza".

One thing facebook should do is to allow more customization in terms of design. This will distinguish amateurs from professional agencys because one will identify with the logo's etc. The latter have the credibility and professionalism to own a public profile.

But still, vanity URL's are a come firte server first phenomenon.

Comment by Kris Van den Bergh — May 4, 2009 @ 9:54 am
That letter supposedly from the CR agency seems like a total fabrication. It was concocted by either the profile owner or by someone playing a prank on him.

The letter is full of grammatical errors and makes assurances that a real agency would never agree to: "You can sell the advertising space to any company you want".

Comment by Charles — May 4, 2009 @ 9:56 am
Facebook is all about control. They are trying to engineer online society, rather than facilitate it like Twitter is doing by building something simple and sensible and letting it become what it is. I am betting on Twitter.

Comment by Anonymous — May 4, 2009 @ 10:01 am
please bring back the page of c.ronaldo in facebook!!

Comment by jaime — May 4, 2009 @ 10:24 am
"Website enforces Terms of Service. JPEG at 11!"

Which is an old-fashioned way of saying "This story is not really newsworthy."

Comment by Facebook User — May 4, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
Tempest in Teapot Alert!

Comment by Ron Frank — May 4, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
What do you expect from a media agency located at Portugal. Their English is not up to the mark.Player himself despite spending 7 years in English does not understand half of the questions of Reporters.

Lastly, contact information ( cell phone and email ) both have been provided with the email. So any one who would declare it fabricated, can easily confirm it.

There are thousands of Unofficial Facebook Public Profiles. Why no action is taken against them? They should totally block this service for unofficial ppl.

When a page gets disabled, in help section, there is a forum which says if you believe we have a mistake, then, fill up the form.

1) page name:

2) page url:

3) Email associated to the page:

4) You are someone from OFFICIAL media agency.Describe it.

Why don`t they provide a similar form to the user while he is about to CREATE a page. If they do so, there will be ONLY official Facebook profiles. I really find it discouraging enough. First you let people do so, then you stand in their way. There are over 300 pages with same name. WHy dont they delete them?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DR-HOUSE/1645304932...
Dr. House page with 2.9 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Will-...
Will Smith page with 2 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BobMarley/642230804...
Bob Marley page with 2 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mc-Donalds/26088093...

I wonder why no one has touched these INACTIVE pages when they are growing so rapidly. Cristiano Ronaldo page had 100 thousand videos played last month. Best part was, they all were uploaded by FANS. You can not blame the admin for breaching copyrights law even. 0 video uploaded by admin.

400 plus notes published since the last year. 4000 impressions a day on the status updates. 20,000 visits every day from people who have already joined the page which is a big thing.

I have seen dead pages grow too much and people after joining it once, never bother to come again. But bringing people back, making them comment again is a big big thing.

Facebook should be appreciative, supportive and protective of such people rather than standing in their way. If an unofficial page gets famous off the Facebook, will it be beneficial for the owner more or for the Facebook?

Mr. Charles, reply

Comment by ali salman — May 4, 2009 @ 9:31 pm
I created the page Sleep months before Sleeping happened, and it was disable without explanation. I think the generic pages are absolutely appropriate and Facebook should just let them be.

Comment by Terence — May 27, 2009 @ 9:10 am
please back my chip 3,5 M zynga police

Comment by abung mulyadi — April 30, 2010 @ 7:52 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Sounds like teens running a company.

Comment by Facebook User — May 4, 2009 @ 6:56 am

You're right. Gold stamp of approval wasn't clearly given, but there doesn't seem to be a big issue with the page's existence either.

I don't have a problem with Facebook policing the site in this way,but it might be a better solution for both sides (brands and fans) if Facebook served as the convener/mediator.

In this case, they could have brought CR's people to the table with the page creators, explained why it might be valuable to keep the page open and work out a solution.

When you have fans doing creating pages, I don't see how the brand is negatively impacted…maybe I'm missing a few things. I'll go back to an earlier thought.

It might be a good idea for Facebook to serve as the convener/mediator and even use opportunities like this to reach out to other brands, educate them on the possibilities and encourage them to create an official presence.

Comment by James S. Walker — May 4, 2009 @ 6:58 am

Why anybody would trust Facebook with anything remotely important is beyond me. The only use for Facebook is as user acquisition channel to engage and convert elsewhere.

Comment by Dmitriy Kruglyak — May 4, 2009 @ 7:02 am

I don't like seeing generic public profiles for things like pizza and sleeping. It seems to make public profiles less official. I would much rather see Facebook find a way to make public profiles for real people, celebrities, and brands only. It gives the whole idea of public profiles a sense of professionalism and a real connection to whoever or whatever the profile is for. But seeing Pages for things like "I want to sleep…5 more minutes!" is just stupid, that's something for a group, not a public profile.

Comment by Joe Funicelli — May 4, 2009 @ 7:05 am

Facebook could wait until an official complaint is expressed and then do something. I agree with James (above) about Facebook acting as a mediator or maybe more of a facilitator of communication.

Fans want to participate, communicate, and make something happen around whatever they are enjoying. The major contribution of web 2.0 tools like Facebook is that they allow the manifestation of this energy to take place in the open and in collaboration — even with the owner of the brand. Controlling the message is old thinking and self-deception — there really is no control: there is participation or not.

I encourage Facebook to remember their contribution to the world and not move backwards into the old rut of traditional corporate branding.

Comment by Kathryn Gorges — May 4, 2009 @ 7:12 am

I guess people are making pages for things like liking pizza and sleep because groups have fallen out of practice. People use them now for communicating with a group of people, like churches for instance. I don't mind them as long as the profiles don't have pointless, meaningless, and frivolous updates that clutter up my news feed. Pages like allfacebook.com are the ones that need to have updates because they actually have things going on.

It definitely seems like corporations should keep the pages open and work with the profile owners to spread the word about their brands or company or whatever. But having unofficial pages could have some sort of liability issue. And Facebook does not need any sort of court and lawyer fees, not to mention the bad publicity.

Comment by Heather Gentry — May 4, 2009 @ 8:12 am

Facebook has every right to delete any public profiles that it deems unofficial or fake? Why? Because the terms explicitly state so – and it is not hidden anywhere among a bunch of legalese. Here is what it says right below the "Create Page" button:

Note: Fake Pages and unofficial "fan pages" are a violation of our Terms of Use. If you create an unauthorized Page or violate our Terms in any way, your Facebook account may be disabled. To create a Facebook Group for fans of this subject, please click here.

Comment by Sid — May 4, 2009 @ 8:50 am

Brands brands brands! Please, no general concepts like "sleeping" or "pizza".

One thing facebook should do is to allow more customization in terms of design. This will distinguish amateurs from professional agencys because one will identify with the logo's etc. The latter have the credibility and professionalism to own a public profile.

But still, vanity URL's are a come firte server first phenomenon.

Comment by Kris Van den Bergh — May 4, 2009 @ 9:54 am

That letter supposedly from the CR agency seems like a total fabrication. It was concocted by either the profile owner or by someone playing a prank on him.

The letter is full of grammatical errors and makes assurances that a real agency would never agree to: "You can sell the advertising space to any company you want".

Comment by Charles — May 4, 2009 @ 9:56 am

Facebook is all about control. They are trying to engineer online society, rather than facilitate it like Twitter is doing by building something simple and sensible and letting it become what it is. I am betting on Twitter.

Comment by Anonymous — May 4, 2009 @ 10:01 am

please bring back the page of c.ronaldo in facebook!!

Comment by jaime — May 4, 2009 @ 10:24 am

"Website enforces Terms of Service. JPEG at 11!"

Which is an old-fashioned way of saying "This story is not really newsworthy."

Comment by Facebook User — May 4, 2009 @ 1:04 pm

Tempest in Teapot Alert!

Comment by Ron Frank — May 4, 2009 @ 1:41 pm

What do you expect from a media agency located at Portugal. Their English is not up to the mark.Player himself despite spending 7 years in English does not understand half of the questions of Reporters.

Lastly, contact information ( cell phone and email ) both have been provided with the email. So any one who would declare it fabricated, can easily confirm it.

There are thousands of Unofficial Facebook Public Profiles. Why no action is taken against them? They should totally block this service for unofficial ppl.

When a page gets disabled, in help section, there is a forum which says if you believe we have a mistake, then, fill up the form.

1) page name:

2) page url:

3) Email associated to the page:

4) You are someone from OFFICIAL media agency.Describe it.

Why don`t they provide a similar form to the user while he is about to CREATE a page. If they do so, there will be ONLY official Facebook profiles. I really find it discouraging enough. First you let people do so, then you stand in their way. There are over 300 pages with same name. WHy dont they delete them?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DR-HOUSE/1645304932...
Dr. House page with 2.9 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Will-...
Will Smith page with 2 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BobMarley/642230804...
Bob Marley page with 2 million fans. Unofficial status.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mc-Donalds/26088093...

I wonder why no one has touched these INACTIVE pages when they are growing so rapidly. Cristiano Ronaldo page had 100 thousand videos played last month. Best part was, they all were uploaded by FANS. You can not blame the admin for breaching copyrights law even. 0 video uploaded by admin.

400 plus notes published since the last year. 4000 impressions a day on the status updates. 20,000 visits every day from people who have already joined the page which is a big thing.

I have seen dead pages grow too much and people after joining it once, never bother to come again. But bringing people back, making them comment again is a big big thing.

Facebook should be appreciative, supportive and protective of such people rather than standing in their way. If an unofficial page gets famous off the Facebook, will it be beneficial for the owner more or for the Facebook?

Mr. Charles, reply

Comment by ali salman — May 4, 2009 @ 9:31 pm

I created the page Sleep months before Sleeping happened, and it was disable without explanation. I think the generic pages are absolutely appropriate and Facebook should just let them be.

Comment by Terence — May 27, 2009 @ 9:10 am

please back my chip 3,5 M zynga police

Comment by abung mulyadi — April 30, 2010 @ 7:52 am

The Facebook Police Shut Down One Of The Most Popular Public Profiles

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548716 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2Fpublic-profile-disable-2009-05The+Facebook+Police+Shut+Down+One+Of+The+Most+Popular+Public+Profiles2009-05-04+14%3A46%3A43Nick+O%27Neillhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F%3Fp%3D5487 »

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Follow AllFacebook

Send us a Tip

Social Media Jobs

Let your next job find you!

Featured Company

Jobs of the Day

Digital Strategist

Digital/Social Media Manager - Entertainment

Social Media Coordinator

See all jobs

Upcoming Events

548716 Comments2009-05-04+14%3A46%3A43Nick+O%27Neill »