Facebook Gives Salman Rushdie Runaround Over Use of His Real First Name

Salman Rushdie, a famous Indian-British novelist who wrote The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children, had quite a day with Facebook and its real name policy.

Rushdie, whose full name is Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, went endured this sequence of events: a deactivated Facebook profile; a request for passport; a reactivated Facebook with the name Ahmed Rushdie; and an apology and reinstated profile with the name Salman Rushdie.

Here's his account via Twitter:

The Atlantic reports Facebook's statement of the whole ordeal:

This action was taken in error," they say, "and Mr. Rushdie's account has been reactivated with the correct name. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused." That would be in accord with their policy to let people go by their middle names.

Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says "Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way."