I recently received an angry email explaining that UK Facebook profiles have been “hijacked” as a popup survey is asking users whether or not they’ve registered to vote. A “no” response sends them to the UK Electoral Commission’s page.

The note reads, “Facebook should not be a political tool. It should NOT favor voting or not voting. It should be neutral. Some people don’t like the government and don’t like any of the political parties…This is a huge privacy breach.”

I think this is interesting for a number of reasons:

1. This guy thinks I matter to his cause. Not a problem dude, just let me take the glass casing off my red Zuck phone and dial that shit in.

2. Facebook is so huge that users treat it like a public service. But public services are funded by tax dollars and Facebook is a private entity. So basically Facebook can contribute to political campaigns with cash, in-kind donations and any number of political advertisements. Think of it as putting a sign up on your own front lawn.

3. The term “political tool” is being used from a purely utilitarian sense as rather then using Facebook to further a specific party agenda, the service is actually being used by the Electoral Commission to encourage the civil act of voting. As a person who works within the general confines of society, I see this as a convenient method of outreach with a clear conversion funnel. I guess if you’re railing against the system it marks the further marginalization of libertarians / anarchists? Can anarchists really be surprised that the electoral commission isn’t counting them? Those zany and unpredictable kids… Sigh.

4. Special interest messages often appear on Facebook as targeted advertising. This is no government conspiracy, it’s just about the fact that people who start companies like to make money from them - even if that money comes from your government. If you’re a particularly pissed off Brit, write your MP a terse email for letting American Mark Zuckerberg roll around naked in your tax dollars. I’m sorry, this is outside of my jurisdiction. My hands are tied.