14 DAY TRIAL // Turns out you can't block founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. Supposedly, this was possible earlier, just like you can block any other Facebook user. But now, due to a bug, inside joke or whatever the reason, trying to do so will result in an error.
You can try it out for yourself, just go to Zuckerberg's Facebook profile page scroll down to "Report/Block this Person" and click on the link. In the overlay window that pops up choose "Block this person" and then click Submit.
You should be greeted with the "General Block failed error: Block failed" message. So what does all this mean? Well, most likely, absolutely nothing.
The vast, vast majority of Facebook's 500 million or so users have no reason whatsoever to block Zuckerberg just like they have no reason to block many of the other Facebook users.
And it doesn't really prove anything, it's not the first time Facebook engineers had a bit of lighthearted fun with the system, 'bending' the rules in their favor.
This doesn't mean that they would do so in more serious matters. It doesn't mean that they wouldn't either. The only reason why people might get upset over this is because the site is maybe too big for this kind of 'pranks.'
Of course, if you really did have a reason to block Zuckerberg, you'd be out of luck.
The website Block Zuck, greatly described by its name, used to have step-by-step instructions on how to block Zuckerberg on his site. However, sometime after the site was launched, the feature stopped working.
It's unlikely that the move had anything to do with the site, but maybe there really were too many people blocking the CEO. Whatever the reason, all the attention will likely spur Facebook to say something, or just fix the block issue.
UPDATE: Facebook has gotten back to us and clarified the situation.
"This error isn't specific to any one account. It's generated when a person has been blocked a certain large number of times. In very rare instances, a viral campaign will develop instructing lots of people to all wrongly block the same person," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"The purpose of this system is to protect the experience for people targeted by these campaigns. We're constantly working to improve our systems and are taking a closer look at this one," Facebook added.
So, there you go, mystery solved.