Facebook Apologises to Drag Queens Over Deleted Accounts

You can be flawless and fabulous, it seems, but if you're a drag queen - you can't have a Facebook account.  At least, that was the case until bosses at the social media network reversed a hugely unpopular decision. Facebook was forced to apologise and amend its policy on "real names" after hundreds of drag queens accounted were deleted. Instead, the company now requires people to "use the authentic name they use in real life" on their Facebook profiles. Facebook's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said: "I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbours, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks. "Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what's been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook."

The company maintains that a single user highlighted the accounts as using fake names and the reports were lost in the "several hundred thousand fake name reports" they process every week.