Melbourne Muso Slams Facebook Over Alleged Anti-Activism Hacking

Ezekiel Ox has announced he is done with Facebook in an extraordinary video rant shared via his artist account on the social media site. According to the Melbourne musician, Facebook have “hacked” into his personal account and changed his details because of an opposition to his political views.

“I woke up this morning, guys, and my Facebook page has now officially been hacked and taken over by people that don’t really agree with what I’m talking about,” Ox, born Alan James Davies, claims in the video. According to Ox, the alleged hackers changed the details of his personal Facebook page.

“They said that I’d gone to Griffith University, which I haven’t. They’ve changed information on my Facebook page. They’ve also been harassing me about my name not being my real name,” Ox explains. “Of course, it is my real name. My son’s name is Ox, my name’s Ox… my mother calls me Ox.”

Ox insists he can no longer maintain a presence on Facebook as he uses the site to “organise with certain community activists” and to promote his Pozible campaign. According to the campaign page, Ox is taking pledges to “unleash a propaganda campaign against government and corporate corruption”.

“Being on Facebook’s not a really big deal for me,” Ox insists, “but what we need you to do is to share this video, let everyone know that Facebook is going into activists’ accounts, they are changing their names… they are telling people that I’ve been messaging them [and that] my messages are abusive and spam when they’re not, they’re actually about organising or they’re about my Pozible campaign.”

In a post to Ox’s artist page this morning, a fan claimed that he was unable to read a message from the Melbourne musician “because as I went to open it, it first went blank then was immediately replaced by, ‘This message is no longer available because it was identified as abusive or marked as spam.'”

In his video, Ox also references alleged “harassment” and “death threats” that have been directed towards him over his political activism. “Facebook has now officially become something that is impossible to use for me, because of where I’m at, my position currently in ‘the movement,’” he says.

Ox is a known campaigner for what he refers to in the video as “Muslim solidarity”, regularly appearing at marches and events. In a press release shared by the organisers of an upcoming anti-counter-terrorism legislation rally, it’s alleged that Ox was sent a message reading, “Your face is out there now and I tell you what, people are not liking you. Seems your walking around with a bullseye on your back now.”

While it’s not yet clear what occurred with Ox’s Facebook page, it’s important to note that the introduction of Facebook’s ‘real name’ policy earlier this month has seen the accounts of numerous musicians and performers altered. Among those affected is Skinny Puppy multi-instrumentalist cEvin Key.

On his artist page, Key, real name Kevin William Crompton, claims “Facebook made me change my profile name to Kevin Crompton” and has shared the link to a petition page calling for an end to Facebook’s controversial new policy, which requires users to employ a “real name as it would be listed on your credit card, driver’s license or student ID” or risk having their account deleted.

However, despite many musicians, performers, and everyday users looking to separate their personal profiles from their professional profiles coming out and claiming that their Facebook screen names have been changed, Ox is apparently the first to have his education details and personal messages affected.