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Partners
- A polyamory advocacy group wants Facebook to allow users to add more than one partner on their relationship status feature.
- The group wrote an open letter to the Head of Facebook App, Tom Alison.
- Meta has responded saying they are reviewing the request.
In 2015, Facebook introduced a relationship identification feature for users to list themselves as 'in an open relationship', adding to its 11 existing options.
However, critics are now saying the platform isn't inclusive enough, specifically with the term 'open relationship' because it isn't inclusive of all types of non-monogamy.
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The Organisation for Polyamory and Ethical Non-Monogamy (OPEN) released an open letter on 16 June to the Head of Facebook App, Tom Alison asking that he expand their relationship status feature.
The group believes that the one the platform currently has alienates people who are in romantic relationships with more than one person. They also believe that this restriction perpetuates the erasure and marginalisation of non-monogamous relationships.
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"At worst it harms non-monogamous users by perpetuating social stigmas around the validity and authenticity of their relationships," the group said in an email to Xtra.
The three page long open letter said the relationship feature prevents many users from indicating the connections most important to them.
"By restricting users to one relationship status (and one tagged partner) on their profile, non-monogamous individuals are arbitrarily prevented from expressing the full range of their connections on the Facebook app."
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The group also believes that without the feature the social media platform is telling queer users that they can list one same-gender partner, but two is a bridge too far.
According to Metro UK, the group also argued that if Facebook allows users to list as many members of family as they desire on their profile, it should also allow users to list all of their romantic partners without limit.
The Meta group responded the following day to the open letter by telling the New York Times that they are currently reviewing the request.
They didn't say whether or not the feature will be available to users in future.
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