It is not a new phenomenon that FOM bullies small media organisations to stop using so called Formula 1, Formula One and/or F1 'trademark' - this site changed name due to this. We even have an alternative to GrandPrix247, should the need arise...
Nevertheless, in an age when most mainstream sports embrace 'new age' fans, those who use social media platforms and the web to debate and promote the sport they love. However FOM and the powers that be in F1 will rather go to war with this free (and widespread) promotional weapon rather than leveraging this as a massively powerful marketing resource for the sport - make them happy not sad....
Clearly there are some very shortsighted people at the the top of FOM making bizarre decsions and clearly very bored with their desk jobs.
Or perhaps the order is coming from above, directly from the desk of their geriatric leader, whose disdain for new age media (and anything new for that matter) is well documented.
To the FOM bullies we say shame on you as your pettiness knows no bounds - leave the little guys alone and think bigger picture.
In retrospect, maybe this only happens because the majority of the F1 social media crowd don't wear Rolex watches or frequent the Paddock Club?
Whatever the case, these actions described below by a social media using F1 fan - Nicholas Malanga - boggles the mind as the sport continues to alienate aficionados and remain entrenched narrow mindedness.
Hi,
I am I big fan of Formula 1 and like some others, have a Formula 1 based social media account on Instagram (@valtteribottasfanpage).
Well, some not-nice stuff is going on in the F1 community on social media right now, and there could be a story in it. Right now, the FOM (Formula One Management) are currently banning/ deleting any and all accounts with names that include F1, Formula 1, Formula One and Grand Prix(?).
This means that a LOT of accounts are getting deleted just because of their name, and the FOM doesn't even give us a chance to change them; the accounts just disappear. It's really stupid on multiple levels, as it means that all of our hard work into making these accounts stick goes to shit, and it really alienates us fans!
It's like you pour tons of time into them and the sport that you poured that time into deleted your work! It's horrible and a lot of people are mad ATM. There's no real point in it either, all of the accounts deleted show formula 1 in its best light and is pretty much free advertisement for F1 as a business.
This only really started happening a week ago, when one major account disappeared. We assumed he just deleted his account, but then tons more just started disappearing and we figured it out as it was only pages with the names including the copyrighted stuff l said earlier.
The three largest that have disappeared (@f1.images, @racing.moments and @formula1team) had a total of around 230k followers between them those guys have already made new "title-neutral" accounts, but 6 years of combined effort when down the drain, and 15k-110k followers lost!
The FIA and FOM seem like they want to mute us fans. It really angers us, as fans, to be slapped in the face by the sport we love. It really is incredible, there's no other word for it. I think that this could shed some light on the idiotic way that the sport operates and how little they care about the very people that make them rich.
There's already actually been an article about this written online; a friend of mine asked a Spanish journalist to write an article which the journalist did do here>>>
One can only assume that this is happening on other social media platforms as well. Thanks for reading.
If your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and/or Website has been affected let us know and we will highlight the way FOM is shunning F1 fans.
Open letter from @valtteribottasfanpage
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