{"id":58129,"date":"2025-07-06T12:46:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T12:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/facebook-and-instagram-users-complain-of-account-bans\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T12:46:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T12:46:36","slug":"facebook-and-instagram-users-complain-of-account-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/facebook-and-instagram-users-complain-of-account-bans\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook and Instagram users complain of account bans"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Graham Fraser & Imran Rahman-Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

Technology reporters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BrittanyBrittany Watson<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brittany Watson started the petition calling for Meta to answer for banning people’s accounts<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Facebook and Instagram users have been contacting the BBC complaining about having their accounts arbitrarily banned, and struggling to get them reinstated.<\/p>\n

Last week Meta – which owns the platforms – acknowledged a “technical error”<\/a> which it said was causing the wrongful suspension of some Facebook Groups.<\/p>\n

Since then, people who use what is the world’s biggest social media company have been getting in touch with the BBC to describe the impact it is having on them – and say the problem goes much wider than Meta has indicated.<\/p>\n

Some say they have been shut out of pages that are key to their working lives, while others highlight the digital connections to loved ones that have been cut.<\/p>\n

There is also frustration that – despite Meta saying it is fixing the problem – there is often no human to speak to about an issue they suspect is caused by moderation decisions powered by artificial intelligence (AI). <\/p>\n

They have also described how Instagram accounts have been affected, despite Meta saying it does not have evidence of a problem on its platforms more widely.<\/p>\n

More than 25,000 people have signed a petition in the last few weeks which says the problem is being experienced across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people are in Reddit forums dedicated to the subject, many users are posting on social media about being banned by Meta, and some say they plan on taking a class action lawsuit against the social media giant.<\/p>\n

Here’s what people have told the BBC about what it means to them to be locked out of their social media accounts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘More than just an app’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The online petition about this issue was started by Brittany Watson, a 32-year-old from Ontario, in Canada.<\/p>\n

She decided to act after her Facebook account was disabled for nine days in May before it was reinstated. She claims her page was cancelled over “account integrity<\/a>“, and Meta has not provided her with any answers as to why.<\/p>\n

“Facebook wasn’t just an app for me,” she told BBC News. “It was where I kept years of memories, connected with family and friends, followed pages that brought me joy, and found support communities for mental health.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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When her account was banned, Brittany said she felt “ashamed, embarrassed and anxiety-stricken”.<\/p>\n

“The weight of feeling exiled from everyone takes a pretty strong hold on you,” she added.<\/p>\n

She quickly discovered she wasn’t the only one affected – thousands have signed the petition she started.<\/p>\n

“There is a problem – it is personal accounts, it is business accounts, Facebook pages and Groups. I can’t believe they [Meta] are only saying it is just Groups.”<\/p>\n

Meta has told BBC News that it takes action on accounts that violate our policies, and “people can appeal if they think we’ve made a mistake”.<\/p>\n

It has also outlined in detail<\/a> how it moderates accounts using a combination of people and technology to find and remove accounts that broke its rules.<\/p>\n

It says it is not aware of a spike in erroneous account suspension.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘There is no customer service’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"JohnJohn Dale<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

John Dale ran a group with over 5,000 followers<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Another user who recently lost access to his Facebook account is John Dale, a former journalist who runs a local news group in west London with over 5,000 members. <\/p>\n

His account was first suspended on 30 May for breaking community standards, and the page he administers has briefly come back twice since then.<\/p>\n

He has no idea why.<\/p>\n

As he was the only administrator of the group, he currently cannot approve new posts. Additionally, his own posts have been removed from the group.<\/p>\n

“It’s frozen in time, [while] quite a lot of material has been deleted,” he told BBC News.<\/p>\n

Mr Dale is appealing his suspension, but if he loses his appeal his account will be permanently deleted. He says he has received limited information on why he was banned.<\/p>\n

“There is no customer service,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘My income has taken a huge hit’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"MichelleMichelle DeMalo<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Michelle DeMelo has lost money on her businesses and fears of a reputational hit after her accounts were banned<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Michelle DeMelo, who is also from Canada, says she has suffered financially since her Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended in the middle of June. <\/p>\n

They were reinstated on Wednesday, a day after the BBC contacted Meta about her case.<\/p>\n

She runs several pages, with some associated with her businesses in digital marketing, and also uses Facebook Marketplace to buy and sell goods.<\/p>\n

All her accounts are linked, so when her personal Instagram page was suspended for “violating the terms” of a Meta policy, it triggered all of her pages to be suspended.<\/p>\n

“My income’s taken a huge hit in the past couple of weeks,” she told BBC News from her home in Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n

“People think I blocked them or think something happened to me.”<\/p>\n

Michelle can’t think of anything which triggered the suspension, and is worried about the reputational hit as some of her clients were left unable to contact her.<\/p>\n

She told the BBC she was relieved that after “weeks of complete confusion and uncertainty” her accounts had now been abruptly restored.<\/p>\n

But she said the episode had been very badly handled.<\/p>\n

“It’s insulting that a company as powerful as Meta, built by its users, offers no real human support or clear pathways for resolution in these situations.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

AI suspicions <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Another person left frustrated at Meta’s moderation policies and its appeal process is Sam Tall, a 21-year-old from Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

He told BBC News that he discovered his Instagram page was suspended last week for breaching “community standards”.<\/p>\n

He decided to appeal, and it was rejected two minutes later – making Sam suspect the process was entirely handled by AI.<\/p>\n

“There is absolutely no way that was seen by a human,” he told BBC News.<\/p>\n

“All the memories, all my friends who I can no longer talk to because I don’t have them on any other platform – gone”.<\/p>\n

As his Facebook account was linked, that was removed too.<\/p>\n

“No explanation. I’m a bit baffled, to be honest.”<\/p>\n

Sam says it is time for some serious action from Meta – and not just for his sake.<\/p>\n

“If I know it is quite a few people, then there is a chance of Meta waking up and realising ‘oh, this actually is an issue – let’s reinstate them all.'”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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