We’ve all unfriended somebody on Facebook at some point, likely due to their incessant humble-bragging about their new job, new house, or new baby (or perhaps all three).
But in Germany, one tech blogger is promoting Facebook’s tool that allows users to see what pages their so-called friends have “liked,” encouraging them to “unfriend” users who like pages belonging to ultra-right-wing or racist groups.
In a post on pop-culture blog testspiel.de, blogger Marc Ehrichincludes links to a variety of groups’ pages, including the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), and the neo-Nazi Social Home Party (NPD).
Hilariously, the list also includes the Facebook page for Canadian rock band Nickelback.
In a separate post, Ehrich also explains how average users can set up their own Facebook links to any pages they would like to check that their friends belong to.
It could be a reviled political group, a hated sports team, or a rock band with an inexplicable global fan following.
After you “unfriend” users, you’re left to enjoy “discussion among real friends,” Ehrich writes.
In response to Ehrich’s blogs, which have gone viral in Germany, grassroots political organizer Marina Weisband took to Facebook to ask if anyone had unfriended someone because “he or she sympathized with PEGIDA?”
Dozens of Facebook users responded in a variety of ways. Some said they would “unfriend” someone for supporting such groups, while others said that the key to education is to remain aware of different points of view.
Still others noted that just because someone “likes” a page on Facebook, that does not mean they support the group’s point of view.
Follow this link to learn how to check up on whether your friends “like” a page that you do not! Or try some of Ehrich’s tools.
