UPDATED Nov. 25, 2015, 11:12 a.m. ET: The latest version of this story includes an update about Phuc Dat Bich's real name
A 23-year-old Vietnamese-Australian named Phuc Dat Bich claims that Facebook repeatedly suspended his account because it thought his name was fake.
I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it. I've been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive. Is it because I'm Asian? Is it?
Having my fb shut down multiple times and forced to change my name to my "real" name, so just to put it out there. My name.
In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 123,000 times, Bich shared a photo of his passport to prove his identity:
Bich insinuates that Facebook is discriminating against him by asking, "Is it because I'm Asian?" Although he shared his post in January, it only gained traction recently and by Friday morning, his name was trending internationally on Twitter.
This isn't the first time Facebook has offended minority communities by asking people to prove their identities. In February, a Native American woman was required to send Facebook three pieces of ID in order to prove her name is Lone Hill, Colorlines reported.
In early October, Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox wrote a public apology to the LGBT community for the company's name policy and how it negatively affected drag kings, drag queens, and transgender people.
Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what's been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook.
Later that month, Facebook conceded and changed its name policy.
“We want to reduce the number of people who are asked to verify their name on Facebook, when they are already using the name people know them by,” Facebook's vice-president of growth Alex Schultz said in a letter obtained by BuzzFeed. “We want to make it easier for people to confirm their name if necessary."
On Nov. 25, the Australia man revealed that "Phuc Dat Bich" was not his real name in a post signed "Joe Carr." However, Mashable reported that a former schoolmate provided them information about his real name, "Thien Nguyen," which they corroborated with the license plate on his car.
