Google experienced what may the first significant backlash to its Google+ when users recently complained of a surge of deleted accounts from the burgeoning social network.

Google experienced what may the first significant backlash to its Google+ when users recently complained of a surge of deleted accounts from the burgeoning social network.

The search giant has been actively removing company profiles from Google+, asserting the social network is not yet optimized for business and social media marketing purposes. But over the weekend, Google also started deleting accounts registered under pseudonyms in bulk.

News pundits and social media users alike have criticized Google+'s “real name policy,” which requires users to register under their first and last names without using special characters or aliases.

For most people, this would not be a problem. But as ZDNet reported, Google has removed the profiles of people who, for good reason, who rather stay anonymous, including political activists and those who have made brand identities for themselves through the internet.

Whether Google will readdress its real name policy as the site becomes more openly available is unclear. As Brafton has reported, the company is accelerating the process of forming pages for businesses, which should help marketers with disabled company profiles reclaim their spots on the growing space. However, whether redrafting current policies for business pages will affect individual profiles remains to be seen – as do the consequences of this backlash on user adoption.