CHOICE is interested in hearing from people who have had trouble contacting Facebook or its parent company Meta to resolve an issue after their account has been suspended or terminated through no fault of their own.
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Short answerā¦ you canāt. The algorithm is god and you are unable to dispute. Iāve had posts deleted without adequate reason and thereās no way to dispute. Thereās a general āagainst the ToSā or similar as an explanation but thats about it. I donāt bother posting much anymore and with this nonsense about Meta not controlling contentā¦ meh.
Iāve joined Bluesky instead.
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Just before Christmas I had my account suspended (again) and I am unsure the reason. If I remember correctly, I think that the reason touched on was that I ācontravened their business rulesā. I believe it is because I have and have had too many items for sale on FB MarketPlace. (We are culling our possessions, having minor renovations done, have my motherās possessions to clear, selling for our son, and selling for a Luddite friend.)
There is a link to find out why my account will be deleted, but when I click on the link it wonāt let me proceed without sending them my passport or licence to verify my identity. Everything I have tried had landed me back on the following page:
While It states that they will delete what I provide after 30 dayā¦ Sorry, but I am not doing that; I do not trust them with these documents.
I have previously had issues with my profile, and have tried many, many, many times to contact FB via their appeal channels without any response. Itās about as successful as trying to knock over a concrete wall by throwing raw eggs at it.
On one of these previous occasions I tried sending them a utility bill, and other proofs of ID, but they were rejected. It would seem that they will only accept a passport or drivers licence. (That profile was shut down.)
This time there is not even an appeal channel available, unless it appears after I provide my ID documentation. Consequently I am locked out of all of Metaās social media apps.
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Two weeks ago I was suspended and given 6 months to appeal. I did it immediately and have heard nothing. At the same time they have closed down a community group (about cars) that I Admin. They said that the account has been restricted from advertising, however the group has disappeared. The only ābreachā that we can work out is that I put a copy of an ad up advertising āescortsā, (the Ford type), however the ad was quite clever in its play on words. No where to appeal this removal from what I can find.
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In 2019 my eldest son passed away. I wonāt go into a long story by my ex-wife contacted Facebook and requested that his Facebook page be deleted, which they did. this was very traumatic for the rest of his family and friends, especially for his daughter who was in primary school at the time, as all of his photos on his F/B page were gone.
Multiple contacts were made to F/B to have his page restored so it could be immortalised. F/B said they only respond to requests from his Next of Kin. Legally that was me but they still refused to reinstate his F/B page. Eventually it was given up as a bad joke.
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My IG account got hacked in November. The hackers changed the email address and phone number associated to the IG account, I could see that because IG/Meta sent you an email saying that, and ironically, if itās not you contact support. I only saw the email 8 hrs later as I was asleep. I contacted IG multiple times, tried META via Facebook, tried all the steps, I could easily prove it was mine as I had the original photos, and videos on my mobile etc. But the recovery steps went around in circles, I was never asked to provide video or ID, which I would have. I tried DM on IG, never got an reply, I emailed support a dozen times, never got a reply, I reported my account (now hacked) multiple times, nothing happened. So I quit IG. Iām angry as hell about it, it wasnāt a business account or anything, it was just the violation and the fact that I had no recourse and there was customer care/service. The enshittifcation of everything is upon us.
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My Instagram account was hacked about 2 and a half years ago. All of my attempts to make contact with Meta over that period of time led nowhere.
A few months ago, I read a number of reddit posts about paying for Meta Verified to get oneās account back. I did this and got the account back within a couple of days. I was amazed that I had to pay for basic customer service features.
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Contacting them is easy.
Getting action is impossible.
Someone from Malaysia used my real name. Itās not hers as firstly different heritage, secondly she posted her marriage license.
Itās been years. I approach them now and again. They never respond.
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My Facebook account was suspended in late 2021. I was tired of receiving all the advertising and I changed my age to 1 year old, hoping that the advertisingwould stop. I was suspended and asked to prove who I was. I followed all the steps, changed my age back to my real age, but I was still suspended.
It was a very emotional time, as our son had just passed away and I wanted, needed, all our facebook messages, photos and the like. I tried reaching out to any Meta or Facebook contact details I could find, all to no avail.
I wrote and sent a letter, by registered mail to Meta head office in America, without any reply or reinstatement of my account.
I called Charlie from Life and Technology and explained my excruciating predicament. Charlie tried his Australian contact, but I still was locked out of my Facebook account.
I then tried my local federal MP and explained what had happened and that I couldnāt access any of my dead childs Facebook messages or photos. Within 2 days and great relief had my account reinstated.
From having my account suspended to finally having access again, took over 4 months.
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I have never had a reply from them.
I had my account suspended once because I mentioned Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda in a description of the increase in propaganda that was occurring everywhere. Apparently, I was promoting Nazism.
Another time, I was writing about the cap guns we used to play with when I was a kid and got suspended for promoting guns.
Iāve closed my Instagram and Threads (both Meta ) accounts and severely limited my use of Facebook.
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I have had things removed stating doesnāt meet their requirements! Odd as all i dud was repost something found on there! They threaten to suspend my account etcā¦their response options are extremely limited and bear no reference to what is really transpiring!
Extremely frustrating. If it wasnāt a way i keep āupā with family and friends around the world, i would delete it.
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Over a period of 3+ months late last year I kept getting my account access shut off or threatened with account closure because I was not following their terms terms of service or community rules. If my account was shut off for a few days there was no way to find out exactly why as it was impossible to contact them. The supposedly objectionable images were all ultimately left up!! I could see no reason why the images would be objectionable, most are street art or wild-life!
One time I had a message that I was trying to get too many followers!!! I donāt want more than I have as it is a time waste. I prefer to look at posts from people I know and wildlife!!
If my account was threatened with closure then I could send in a response and eventually got a reply after it was supposedly checked by humans. Always I got an apology that there was nothing wrong with my account, but they shut off access for a few days anyway!! !!
The only thing I could think of was having too many tabs open as I use a computer and rarely using emojiās; I use + * etc as I find looking for emojis really annoying. I have even had a popup from Insta telling me to be more creative and use more emojis!!
The only reason I didnāt close my account was pleading from friends who I discussed the problems with. One friend claims it was probably a random person complaining for entertainment with my account being frozen immediately on complaint without checking if there was a real reason.
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had my threads account suspended and trying to appeal it.
it first put my insta account on a 180 day suspension but l appealed it and got back in straight away.
then found my threads account was suspended and tried to appeal it but it asks for my āelectronic signature which has to be the as your nameā!!
tried typing but doesnāt except it, and pasting to the box and l canāt paste anything in it.
just goes to help page and itās useless!!
so l donāt know what to do
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Thanks for everyoneās input on this thorny issue. Weāve published a story highlighting one personās recent experience as well as drawing from your posts. Thanks. https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/using-online-services/articles/unwarranted-facebook-suspensions
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Andy. Itās all happened to me today.
I canāt see how I can appeal the decision.
Can you provide any contact details ?
