Virtual Jail

“Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I just discovered that I have done something wrong on LinkedIn.

But I don't know what it is.

How thrilling.

As my account is more than 48 hours old, the fact that I am not allowed to set up a "follow link" means that I have either:

• Failed to abide by the LinkedIn Professional Community Policies (they may, for example, think I'm running an escort service using my profile), or
• Have received a "spam flag" in the last 30 days (whatever that is - I haven't been notified of one), or
• Have had an egregious violation in the last 12 months (again, if I have been egregious in my violations, they haven't informed me), or
• They think I live in mainland China.

I wonder which it is?

This leads me neatly on to one of the problems of social media - shadow bans and other penalties that are imposed without an explanation.

In democratic countries with a decent legal system there is a requirement for you to be informed what you are being arrested for when you are detained, and for a charge or indictment to be leveled within a reasonable time.

This stops people in power from throwing people they don't like in jail on a whim and leaving them there in limbo. Something that would be useful if you're running a dictatorship, as it provides a convenient way to get rid of political opponents.

Social media, unfortunately, is not a democratic country with a fair legal system.

You may only find out that you're in the sin-bin because the marketing for your business is no longer anywhere as effective as it used to be, less people are interacting with you on the platform, or because you can't create a "follow link" or some other ludicrous social media construct.

That's right - in the social media world you can end up in a virtual jail for something you didn't do, without even realizing it. Months of effort sunk into writing, connecting, communicating, and building an on-line brand can potentially disappear in a moment, like tears in the rain.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and yes, even LinkedIn, make it difficult for you to know you've been blocked, or to appeal their decisions. I guess it's too much effort for them - much easier just to not open that can of worms.

Of course, this is all trivial compared to the plight of people stuck in real jails for many years without sentencing, even in supposedly "free" countries. Did you know, for example, that California has hundreds of people who have been in jail for over five years while awaiting sentencing, or even being found innocent? I didn't.

But back to social media - what can we do about all of this?

Not a lot.

My solution is to invoke the digital equivalent of dual citizenship. I ensure I don't have all my eggs precariously balanced on one platform, by using both LinkedIn and YouTube.

And I also have a back-up plan, which I will talk about sometime in the near future.