There are two distinct definitions of the word “Impersonate”. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the definitions of “impersonate” are:
Definition #1: to intentionally copy another person’s characteristics, such as their behavior, speech, appearance, or expressions, especially to make people laugh
Definition #2: to attempt to deceive someone by pretending that you are another person
The difference between those two definitions is absolutely critical. In the first definition, the intent is to entertain and harms no one. In the second definition, the intent is to deceive and should rightly be viewed as fraud.
Historically, Elvis Tribute Artists were called Elvis Impersonators, and there are still many entertainers who use the term “impersonator” rather than (or in addition to) “tribute artist”. Whatever they’re called, these entertainers are not deceiving, or intending to deceive, anyone. Nobody in their right mind today would think an Elvis Tribute Artist is really the Elvis Presley who died 47 years ago.
It is a violation of Facebook policy to create or use an account to impersonate someone else. It is reasonable to assume that only the second definition of “impersonate” (attempting to deceive) would be the one Facebook intends to ban.
However, in recent weeks, a lot of ETAs have seen their Facebook pages (and accounts) “blocked”, with the explanation that they are in violation of this policy against impersonation. Ironically, while Facebook has been busy blocking legitimate ETA accounts and pages, they have usually taken no action against fake accounts that are impersonating ETAs with the intent to defraud their fans.
For most individuals, and even most businesses, having their Facebook account blocked is an inconvenience. For ETAs, it can be a financial disaster. And trying to get their accounts unblocked or reinstated is a long, frustrating, time-consuming (and often confusing) business.
Facebook still has the largest user base of any social media platform worldwide with over 3 billion users. It is one of the top 3 social media platforms in the United States. For that reason, Facebook is critically important to many ETAs in their efforts to market themselves and to stay connected to the Elvis and ETA-loving community.
Even as younger folks increasingly turn to platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram for entertainment, the ETA fan base still largely relies on Facebook for information about ETA festivals, performances, and general happenings in the ETA world. And Facebook is one of the most important platforms for the public to access live feeds and recorded performances – things which help to keep their favorite ETAs top of mind, and introduce them to ETAs they’ve never seen before.
Without Facebook, ETAs have no cost-effective way to promote themselves or their businesses. Only a relatively small percentage of ETAs earn enough money from concerts and festivals to support themselves and their families, much less pay for advertising and promotion. The rest have to take “day jobs” as fire fighters, real estate agents, teachers, auto mechanics, etc., to support themselves and to allow them to do what they truly love during their time “off”.
Facebook (along with Instagram) is owned by Meta – a huge company that relies on computers and algorithms to enforce the “rules” that govern participation on their platform. There are no obvious ways to engage Facebook in a conversation. There is little or no “live”, interactive customer support for the majority of users, including business users, and most interaction with Facebook when something goes wrong is met with automated (and generally unhelpful) responses.
As with most attempts to interact with Facebook, “reporting” an account is not a simple process, especially since the category “impersonation” isn’t an option provided when a report is made. Presumably, someone with malicious intent has put the effort into figuring out how to report individual ETA accounts to Facebook as violating the rule against “impersonation” and has succeeded in getting those accounts blocked.
It’s hard to imagine why someone would be so hostile to the ETA world that they would go to the trouble of reporting professional ETA accounts and pages. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a way for those of us who are a part of the ETA fan community to have any impact on how Facebook runs their business or handles these situations.
All we can do is continue to be supportive of those talented, hard-working people who give so much of themselves to those of us who love Elvis, and who love them. If any of you reading this can think of anything else we can do to help, please post suggestions here.
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