BBC News reported yesterday that Facebook had banned Kate Middleton, for being a fake princess-to-be, rather than, say, realising that soon-to-be-royal Kate Middleton isn’t the only person with that name. (The story was also covered in The Sun, which, naturally, started off with the most important fact to its readers—that banned Middleton is blonde.)

After the super soaraway paper got involved, Facebook apparently relented, but Facebook’s quote on ITProPortal.com is interesting:

We review thousands of pieces of content every day and takes action to ensure Facebook remains a safe and trusted environment for everyone. Of course, we make an occasional mistake.

Two questions here leap to mind. First, did Facebook ban on a hair-trigger (as suggested by the original articles) rather than doing some actual research? (In other words, how much research is done before action is taken?) If so, that’s poor form for a site that’s pretty essential to millions of people. Secondly, did ‘imposter’ Middleton do a great deal to fix this or just run straight to the press for her 15 seconds of fame?