Wow, Google+ is becoming quite the elite place to meet, and being admitted into this virtual social network is quite a task. First, the search giant started letting people in by invite-only. Next, it started kicking people (and groups) out. Hacking group Anonymous was removed for violating standards; and now William Shatner says he, too, was ejected (so to speak).
Shatner, who likes to tweet, everything from "Happy Canada Day to all!" to promoting his public appearances and TV shows, took his Google+ troubles to Twitter late Sunday, saying his Google+ "account was flagged for violating standards. Saying hello to everyone apparently is against the rules maybe I should say goodbye?"
Msnbc.com asked Google about the boot-out.
"We don't comment on the status of an individual's Google+ profile, so I cannot provide any specific details on William Shatner's profile," said a Google spokeswoman. "But, you can visit our Help Center and User Content & Conduct Policy to better understand our policies around Google profiles."
So we checked that policy, and found that the ways of getting kicked out of Google+ are numerous.
They include: Illegal activities; malicious products (such as transmitting viruses, malware or "any other malicious or destructive code"); hate speech; distributing other people's personal and confidential information ... without their permission (this would likely cover Anonymous' rejection); account hijacking; distributing child pornography; spam; trying to "manipulate ranking or relevancy using techniques like repetitive or misleading keywords or metadata;" gambling; distributing sexually explicit material ("Your Profile Picture cannot include mature or offensive content. For example, do not use a photo that is a close-up of a person’s buttocks or cleavage."); violent or bullying behavior; and using Google's products "to impersonate other people."
We don't know which, if any of those, Shatner did — nor does he, he says. But we do know for whatever reason, he's back and piloting his page again.
"I am back plusers!" he wrote Monday morning on Google+. " I still do not know what happened but I will refrain from saying hello again for a while just in case. My best, Bill."
— Via TechCrunch
Related stories:
- After Google+ rejection, Anonymous creates its own social network
- Google+: Where all the guys are
- Google+ surpasses 10 million users?
- How creepy is Google+ exactly?
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