When Caitlin Beach came out as a transgender woman, she decided she would announce the news to her entire network on social media. Facebook, however, wouldn’t let her.

In spring 2015, she said Facebook flagged her profile after she changed it from her legal name to her new name, telling her she had to provide documentation to verify her identity. Beach, who had no supporting records at the time, said it was important to be able to introduce herself as Caitlin, and without that option, she decided to deactivate her account altogether.

“It took away that experience of being able to come out,” said Beach, a 22-year-old Michigan resident. “It overall stifled me socially.”

Though Facebook insists that it has since improved its procedures, critics say the company’s name policy continues to pose challenges for trans people and other vulnerable users who don’t use legal names for safety and privacy reasons, including domestic violence survivors and drag queens.

For some, the easiest way to get Facebook to respect their correct names is to talk to Dottie Lux. The San Francisco burlesque performer has made it her personal mission to help people restore their accounts with their preferred names, acting as a liaison between targeted users and representatives of the social media company. Lux – who recently posted on her Facebook page offering to assist people and publicized her efforts in a local blog interview – said she has now helped more than 200 users get their names back and has heard from hundreds more seeking guidance.



“I watched more and more people I know have their name taken,” Lux said on a recent afternoon, seated at a booth at the Stud, a popular LGBT bar in San Francisco that she co-owns as part of a collective. “It feels violating ... Why are we so hell-bent on policing people’s identities?”

The Facebook name controversy, which has been brewing for years, is one of many ways the Silicon Valley company has struggled to fairly moderate and regulate profiles on the platform that now boasts 2 billion users. Following coordinated protests by drag queens, who said they were being kicked off the platform in large numbers, Facebook adjusted its “real names” policy, saying people need to “use the names they are known by”.

The company contends that it does not allow fake names in an effort to prevent bullying, harassment, scams and criminal behavior from anonymous accounts.

In response to the backlash, Facebook announced in December 2015 that it would expand the kinds of documents people can provide to verify names and would give flagged users an easier process to appeal.

But in practice, critics say the policy can still be used for harassment, allowing users to report the names of people they are bullying, forcing targeted individuals to either hand over personal documents if they have them, revert to legal names they don’t use or abandon the platform entirely.

The system can also be racially biased, with Facebook going after Native Americans and others who don’t have western-sounding names. For trans people living in conservative areas, who can often face difficulties getting their documents updated, it can mean losing critical community networks on Facebook.

“If you’re an outspoken person on the internet, people are going to use whatever tools they can to hurt you,” said Lux, who had her name targeted in 2014 and at one point added the fake last name “Smith” to her profile so Facebook would leave her alone.

Dottie Lux ... ‘I watched more and more people I know have their name taken.’ Photograph: Camille Adams Photography

Lux has since had multiple meetings with Facebook representatives, and she and others who are part of the #MyNameIs campaign can directly email a special Facebook address with requests. When Lux reaches out to Facebook on behalf of someone seeking a name fix, the company is typically quick to approve it, she said.

Lascivious Jane, a burlesque performer who was crowned International Ms Leather 2016, said Facebook originally forced her to use a variation of her legal name, which was hurtful and made it harder for her to promote herself: “It was really pretty devastating.”

After Lux got Facebook to restore the Lascivious Jane name within two days, Jane said, “I really felt like I was given my online identity back.”

In May, Lux sent Facebook two invoices, arguing that she should be paid a nominal $25 per hour fee for her work, which she said is effectively customer service and consulting for Facebook: “They’re using my free labor.”

The unpaid work is especially frustrating, she said, considering the way wealthy tech corporations have impacted San Francisco.

Facebook has not responded to her invoices, said Lux, who was called the “‘real names crusader” in a Bay Area blog. A spokesperson declined to comment.

In a statement, the company said the 2015 policy reforms have reduced the number of inaccurate fake-name reports and have made it easier for people to confirm names: “We want to make sure people can use the names they’re known by, whether that’s their legal name or not ... [It’s] important that this policy works for everyone, especially for communities who are marginalized or face discrimination.”

Facebook also claimed that profiles reported for fake names are eight times more likely to violate community standards compared to the general population. A 2016 internal Facebook document seen by the Guardian, called “Fake, Not Real Person”, said that each week the company receives over 6.5m reports of potentially fake accounts and that 3.7m are manually reviewed.

Beyond compensation for her work, Lux argued that it is a dysfunctional system to have a single user like her have so much power while others without resources or knowledge of her group may quickly give up and leave the platform.

Whisper De Corvo, a Seattle-based performer, said she depends on Facebook for work, which means she had no choice but to stop using her name when the company flagged her: “If I don’t have a connection online, I don’t have an income.”

But with Lux’s help, she said, she got her name back in less than 48 hours. “I had given up for so long, I thought it wouldn’t matter so much. When I got it back, it was spectacular.”