I feel like I've read this same damned article a half dozen times over the span of as many years. Facebook has conflicting goals: Knowing literally everything about their users so they can sell access to that data (indirectly, generally, in the form of targeted ads, etc.), and having people not completely hate them.

They fiddle with their terms of service (particularly this one policy, which is most egregiously anti-consumer) every few months, when the noise gets loud enough that they can't ignore it, it lets a little steam out of the pressure to change, and they go back to the highly profitable business of being mildly evil.

As with every change facebook has made to their real names policy, they've made it clear they are in control of your identity online. If you use a name that is not your legal name, they make you jump through hoops to satisfy Facebook's desire to know who you are. I'm not saying they can't do this; of course they can. But, it's time for people to stop letting them get away with the claim that the policy benefits anyone other than facebook.

I know people who have had to jump through those hoops, even after the last round of "we're changing the real names policy, it's totally fine!" articles. People with abusive exes, trans folks, sex workers and entertainers for whom the line between "personal" and "professional" life is thin and could be dangerous for them to have it get too thin (like having their real name on social media), and folks who just prefer to use another name and are known as that name among all of their friends.

Trans folks have been in front on protesting this because they have frequently experienced shame and fear at having their identity challenged, and facebook is doing it online on a massive scale. Probably every trans person has experienced having to show ID to prove they are male or female. They've experienced having to argue with family over what name they wish to use. They've experienced being incorrectly called "sir" or "ma'am" or "he" or "she", even after clarifying that they prefer something else.

Facebook is being the asshole that keeps using the wrong pronouns/names/etc. despite being asked not to, and when challenged on it, demands to see ID to "prove it".

Again, they can do whatever they want; they're a private entity with their own goals and desires. But, we don't have to buy any bullshit about why they're doing it.