Real Names Policies Are an Abuse of Power

Over and over again, people keep pointing to Facebook as an example where real names policies work. This makes me laugh hysterically. One of the things that became patently clear to me in my fieldwork is that countless teens who signed up to Facebook late into the game chose to use pseudonyms or nicknames. What’s even more noticeable in my data is that an extremely high percentage of people of colour used pseudonyms as compared to the white teens that I interviewed. Of course, this would make sense…

The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalised by systems of power. Real names policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people