British Facebook user, Richard Thrift, has created a profile photograph with Nigerian flag, saying it is what the social networking company should have done. “For Nigeria which just had another terrorist attack, Facebook won’t create one. So, I did this myself,” the caption of the photograph that broke the Internet on Tuesday read. In the aftermath of the November 13 coordinated terrorist attacks on Paris, support for France popped up on digital media. Individuals and corporate entities created different logos and infograpics to sympathise with the victims of the attacks. No fewer than 120 persons lost their lives in the attacks. For one, Facebook rolled out a new tool that allowed users to put a French flag overlay on their profile pictures. The ‘corporate action’ was a way of sympathising with French citizens and victims of the attack. The logo was not the first of its kind created by social media sites in sympathy with countries that suffered terrorism. However, intense controversy marred the recent initiative, as many critics described it as part of yet-to-be-addressed segregation. Many commentators argued that poor regions and developing countries rarely receive such attention. When France suffered a similar attack earlier in the year, world leaders converged on the country for a global march whereas attacks of equal or higher scale in poorer regions rarely received a mention by leading media outfits. “Got a French flag on your Facebook profile picture? Congratulations on your corporate white supremacy,” read a headline of an article in The Independent, a United Kingdom-based newspaper, which reviewed the Facebook- launched logo. Also in a Facebook post that went viral, a French lady, Charlotte Farhan, condemned the platform’s decision to single out France for sympathy. The 32-year-old said she would not change her profile
photograph in honour of the victims, as she could not do same every time terrorists struck in any part of the world. “I won’t be changing my profile to the French flag even though I am French and from Paris. The reason for this is that if I do this for only Paris, it would be wrong. If I do this for every attack on the world, I would have to change my profile photograph several times a day. “My heart is with the world – no borders, no hierarchy. I hold every human life attacked by extremist beliefs, whether on religion, prejudice or profit basis, in high value. Do not be a part of the ‘us-and-them’ mentality, which the war mongers want you to do,” posted Farhan. Unlike Farhan’s passive style of seeking support for those at the receiving end of “white supremacy”, Thrift has embarked on an action that could stimulate a wider campaign in comings days and months. Though a white like many of those at the helm of Facebook management, he has started a social media campaign to tell the world that Nigeria, which report says is the third most affected country, also matters. On Tuesday, Thrift went on to post a photograph of his daughter who dressed in Nigerian attire, thus drawing more attention (of Nigerians) to his page. Not many of his Facebook friends are black. Even the few that are go with foreign names. This suggests that he may not have been interacting with many Nigerians on the social networking site. Yet, he is seeking support for the country on social media. Expectedly, Nigerians have started keying into the campaign while commending the British for standing up for the country. Already, a number of young Nigerians have adopted Thrift-created Nigerian flag on their social media profiles. A few have replaced their profiles with the logo rather than merely overlaying it. Copyright PUNCH.