In an unusual occurrence, author Taslima Nasreen was declared “dead” by Facebook for the second time in two days, in what appears to be a concerted cyberattack. The social media giant is reported to have allegedly made the error after the author wrote, “I want the news of my death to be published everywhere,” in an enigmatic post.
Her verified Facebook profile initially stated she died on Tuesday (January 18), since she was being “memorialized” at the time. The issue was resolved within hours, allowing the account to be accessed again later that evening. However, on Thursday morning, Taslima Nasreen discovered again that her Facebook account claimed she was dead and her account was memorialised. A visit to her Facebook account showed the message “Remembering Taslima Nasrin. We hope people who love Taslima will find comfort in visiting her profile to remember and celebrate her life.”
Following Facebook’s attempts to turn her account into a memorial page, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen took to her official Twitter account to call attention to the social media giant’s error. She also asked for the issue to be fixed and her account to be restored to her.
“@Meta @fbsecurity @facebookapp @MetaNewsroom @Facebook I am very much alive. But you memorialized my Facebook account. What a sad news! How could you do that? Please give me back my account.” the 59-year-old author tweeted on Tuesday after she was declared dead for the first time. After that, her account was restored by Facebook, but she was again declared dead.
😮 @Meta @fbsecurity @facebookapp @MetaNewsroom @Facebook I am very much alive. But you memorialized my facebook account. What a sad news! How could you do that? Please give me back my account. pic.twitter.com/mwZNbcOopy
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) January 18, 2022
After her Facebook account again showed her dead, she took to Twitter and wrote, “Facebook @Facebook @facebookapp @fbsecurity @Meta again buried me alive today. Jihadis make my fake death certificates, inform fb, fb then memorialises my account. It seems Jihadis exploit fb. I need my account back, & need protection, so that jihadis won’t be able to vanish my fb.” However, now the account has been restored again.
Facebook @Facebook @facebookapp @fbsecurity @Meta again buried me alive today. Jihadis make my fake death certificates, inform fb, fb then memorialises my account. It seems Jihadis exploit fb. I need my account back,& need protection,so that jihadis won’t be able to vanish my fb. pic.twitter.com/BR5gmJZSik
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) January 20, 2022
The incident happened after Taslima remarked in a Facebook post on her page, “I want the news of my death to be published everywhere. Let it be known that I donated my body to hospital for scientific research. Let there be some lives saved through organ transplants. Let someone regain vision. Let it be known so that some others become inspired to donate their body too. I have always wanted to live my life meaningfully. I wish my death to be meaningful as well.”
Taslima Nasreen was compelled to leave Bangladesh 27 years ago due to threats from Islamist extremists. She has been residing in New Delhi since 2007 when the West Bengal government was pushed by Islamist fundamentalists to push her to leave Kolkata.
Reportedly, several other Bangladeshi personalities also faced the same incident, where their Facebook accounts were memorialised, indicating that a massive cyber attack had targeted Bangladeshi activists.
