Jemma Rogers legally changed her name to Jemmaroid Von Laalaa in order to get back into her Facebook account, which had been blocked because it reportedly violated the company's rules and regulations regarding the use of real names.
Jemma, now officially and legally known as Jemmaroid Von Laalaa, joined Facebook back in 2008. She said that the decision to use the name Jemmaroid is purely personal; she only wanted to avoid getting friend requests from annoying old friends and strangers.
However, last month, Jemma received a message from Facebook, asking her to provide some identification proof that she is indeed Jemmaroid Von Laalaa and not an impostor.
Jemma admitted that, out of desperation, she tried to produce bank cards that are photoshopped in order to show that the name in question was her real name. Still, her move failed to convince Facebook and one day later, her account was suspended.
"I can't believe I'm stuck with this stupid name and I still can't get into my Facebook," said Jemma. "I know I've been a complete moron, but Facebook is being ridiculous. I've been locked out of my account for five weeks now and have lost all of my photos, messages and precious memories."
Jemma is not the first person whose Facebook account was suspended by the social network company. In a previous report by Tech Times, Facebook users such as drag queen Sister Roma and author Salman Rushdie also protested the company's "real name" policy."
Roma didn't want to use her legal name in fear of being a potential target of harassment. In 2011, Rushdie appealed to Mark Zuckerberg over Twitter and asked permission to have his account reinstated under the name that he prefers.
Jemma tried to explain her case to Facebook and had been sending them emails in an effort to persuade them to unlock her account. When all of these seemed to have failed, she decided to do things legally by changing her name through a deed poll and ordering new bank cards along with a driver's license to prove her identity.
While Facebook initially responded to Jemma's actions by maintaining its stand and keeping her account locked, the company eventually retracted its decision and came out with a statement to explain its action.
"Facebook asks people to use their authentic names, as we believe this makes people more accountable for what they say," explained a spokesperson for Facebook. "In this instance we made a mistake but we reactivated the account last week. We apologize for any inconvenience that this caused."
