Facebook issued an apology on Wednesday regarding the issue of requiring users to use their real name on the social network.
Last month, a campaign to reconstruct this policy began after San Francisco Supervisor David Campos and a group of drag queens protested. The protesters explained that the real name requirement violates the safety, privacy, and health concerns of the LGBT community. Facebook defines "real name" as the "...name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, driver's license or student ID."
Most of the drag personalities were enraged after the social networking giant locked their accounts that were using their drag names. The campaign has since expanded to various groups including immigrants and domestic abuse violence survivors.
The new policy made some of the users move to other social media network such as Ello, which has been considered an alternative for anti-Facebook users.
On Wednesday, Facebook agreed to negotiate with the representatives of the groups. Shortly after the meeting, Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer for Facebook, published an apology through his Facebook page, SFGate reported.
"In the two weeks since the real-name policy issues surfaced, we've had the chance to hear from many of you in these communities and understand the policy more clearly as you experience it. We've also come to understand how painful this has been," he wrote.
Cox recognized that users deserved a better site experience and assured that the team will work to have the accounts of those affected by the real-name policy reactivated. But, the apology did not acknowledge that Facebook made a mistake of implementing the policy.
Campos considered the recent meeting successful and was positive that the protesters will be able to use their preferred names again.
"Facebook agreed that the real names policy is flawed and has unintentionally hurt members of our community," Campos said in a statement. "We have their commitment that they will be making substantive changes soon and we have every reason to believe them."
