When Micki Websdane’s Facebook account was suspended late last year, it threw her life into disarray to a degree that surprised her. It was as if she had been excommunicated from a big part of her social world for some undisclosed transgression.
She had depended on the Meta platform to stay connected to a number of important causes in her life, including groups dedicated to helping people find lost pets and gifting groups that combined resources to give to charities.
She hadn’t fully considered how central Facebook had become to her everyday interactions, or that the community feeling it engendered could disappear in an instant.
She thinks the suspension may have happened because she replied to a comment on one of the lost pet groups that she was sure had been left by a scammer. But she’s accepted the fact that she’ll never really know. What she is sure about is that her Facebook activities had never violated Meta’s policies.
Her response to the probable scammer was: “This is a group for pets, your comment is inappropriate”.
I think it said something like ‘against our advertising standards’, which confused me, because I wasn’t advertising anything
Facebook user Micki Websdane
“As soon as I typed that, my mobile phone got a message that took up the entire screen saying I have been suspended for 180 days. And then something flashed past very quickly that I could barely read. I think it said something like ‘against our advertising standards’, which confused me, because I wasn’t advertising anything. I just didn’t know what I had done wrong.”
Micki and her husband exchanged various theories about what may have happened, including one that had the scammer reporting her to Facebook after she replied to the post.
“Either way, it had happened, and there was nothing I could do except appeal,” Micki says. She did so. and received a message saying Meta would respond in 24 hours.
She waited the 24 hours and logged back on. To her considerable relief, she saw that her account had been reinstated without restrictions. Or had it?
It was basically just as bad as not being able to post. I couldn’t interact with my community
“I was so happy for the rest of the day because I could message people. But when they responded, I couldn’t reply back. I got a little red ring around my comment that said ‘failed to post’. I had gifted people things and I had to reply to them and I couldn’t because I was blocked. It created a lot of stress for me. I could post again, but whatever the flaw was that stopped me from replying, it was basically just as bad as not being able to post. I couldn’t interact with my community.”
Micki’s Facebook frustration story is one of many.
The process of reinstating your Facebook or Instagram account after an unwarranted suspension can be mysterious and confusing.
The process of reinstating your Facebook or Instagram account after an unwarranted suspension can be mysterious and confusing.
Not an isolated case
In response to a CHOICE Community callout on this issue, we heard back from a number of Meta platform users who’ve had their accounts suspended for reasons that eluded them.
One member says, “Two weeks ago, I was suspended and given six months to appeal. I did so immediately and have heard nothing.”
The member was part of a Facebook group dedicated to cars. The possible infraction? Someone had posted a screenshot of an ad for a Ford Escort, highlighting the vehicle.
Two weeks ago, I was suspended and given six months to appeal. I did so immediately and have heard nothing
Another community member who had faced multiple suspensions is now in a stalemate with the company. “There is a link to find out why my account will be deleted, but when I click on the link it won’t let me proceed without sending them my passport or licence to verify my identity. Sorry, but I am not doing that. I do not trust them with these documents.”
We also heard from Instagram users whose accounts had been hacked and whose attempts to contact Meta got them nowhere.
CHOICE has flagged a business being uncontactable as an example of unfair trading, a term that includes a range of tactics that the federal government has vowed to abolish. While you may not pay money for your Meta account, the company is extracting value from you in the form of your personal data – which means it should be obligated to have a certain level of customer service.
In early January, Meta announced it was discontinuing its third-party fact-checking program, starting in the US. In a statement, the company said its content management systems “have expanded over time to the point where we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable. Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail’, and we are often too slow to respond when they do.”
Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail’
Meta company statement
It remains to be seen how Meta’s new “Community Notes” program – which will effectively crowdsource content moderation from platform users – will affect unwarranted Facebook suspensions. Or the extent to which it will allow accounts that actually should be suspended to continue.
“The worst thing about it was I didn’t know when it would come back, if it would come back, and how to contact Facebook. I must have sent hundreds of messages saying ‘I still can’t reply’,” Micki says.
They encourage us to become part of these communities and then, when these glitches happen, they cut us off
Facebook user Micki Websdane
About two weeks later, Micki’s reply function started working again – just as mysteriously as it had stopped. But she is still upset about the whole experience.
“They encourage us to become part of these communities and then, when these glitches happen, they cut us off and it causes so much mental stress.”
CHOICE contacted Meta multiple times to give the company a right of reply to this article. Not surprisingly, we never heard back.
