Facebook poll asks “Should Obama be killed?”
By Dave Parrack
With over 300 million users, Facebook is like a country. And like any country, residents think differently from each other. What better way to gauge opinion on a topic of the day than to create a poll? Although if you’re going to create a Facebook poll asking “Should Obama be killed?” you have to consider the consequences. Which could include a visit from the Secret Service.
The Web is a veritable smörgåsbord of people, with all countries, ages, genders, sexual persuasions, religious beliefs, and political views represented somewhere. And with the introduction of user-generated content, be it videos on YouTube, blog posts, or Facebook updates, those people have a voice, a way of communicating their thoughts and feelings with the wider world.
One person had a very particular thought in mind that they wanted to share with others and receive feedback on as well. So they asked their question, “Should Obama be killed?” on Facebook using a third-party poll creator. The choice of answers consisted of “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe,” and “If he cuts my healthcare.”
The Political Carnival blog picked up on the poll, and it has since become national news around the United States. What’s more, the Secret Service has been made aware of the poll and is set to investigate the events surrounding how it came to be created and published on Facebook. The poll has already been removed by Facebook but the person who created it should probably keep a spare pair of pants by his side in case they make a mess in theirs when the Feds come calling.
The poll was removed in its infancy, when only a few hundred people had taken it. This meant it hadn’t even been flagged as inappropriate or come close to being removed by the app’s developer. And it’s hard to see what could be done to stop this kind of wholly inappropriate and possibly illegal poll appearing on the site, short of 100 percent pre-checking of all UGC. Not an easy task when over three million use the app.
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September 29th, 2009
But if the creator was in another country he cannot be touched by the SS….
September 30th, 2009
That’s a little naive.