How I got locked out of Facebook and Messenger because Meta falsely claims I broke their community standards.
On Mondays, a podcasting group I’m in on Facebook has a thread where you can post your latest episode. I posted a comment with a link to our episode with Kim Cooper and Cat Warren, mentioning what we had talked about. It’s an excellent episode and I was pleased to share it because I thought there would be some other people in the group who would enjoy it.
I hit send and was about to read about the other podcasts in the thread when a message popped up. It said that Facebook’s AI had detected that I was in breach of their community standards and that I was suspended for 180 days.
Subsequently I received an email from Facebook to say that I am suspended due to a breach of their standards on cybersecurity, and an email from Meta to say that I am restricted from advertising due to a breach of their advertising standards.
I did not break any rules. The decision has been made by an AI. Decisions on appeals are also made by AI (but only once you’ve uploaded a video selfie).
I know that my Companion Animal Psychology Facebook page is still there, but I don’t have access to it. And I don’t have access to Messenger either. The lack of human support makes me feel that Meta doesn’t care about their users.
I do have access to Instagram, at least for now.
All of this is a reminder that we are only ever renting space from Meta and now their AI bots make the rules.
It turns out that lots of people have had issues like this. New Brunswick’s MP had his account suspended, restored, suspended, and restored again after he posted a speech he had given in the House of Commons. Lots of groups were suspended then restored as ‘group title pending’.
There’s a petition about Meta on change.org, and a subreddit for people whose accounts were wrongfully banned. So I am not alone in this experience.
At this point, I don’t know if or when I will get the account back.
The good news is that you can join my newsletter to stay in touch.
And you can listen to the podcast that Meta doesn’t want you to know about here.
Read More...
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Photo: sophiecat/Shutterstock |
On Mondays, a podcasting group I’m in on Facebook has a thread where you can post your latest episode. I posted a comment with a link to our episode with Kim Cooper and Cat Warren, mentioning what we had talked about. It’s an excellent episode and I was pleased to share it because I thought there would be some other people in the group who would enjoy it.
I hit send and was about to read about the other podcasts in the thread when a message popped up. It said that Facebook’s AI had detected that I was in breach of their community standards and that I was suspended for 180 days.
Subsequently I received an email from Facebook to say that I am suspended due to a breach of their standards on cybersecurity, and an email from Meta to say that I am restricted from advertising due to a breach of their advertising standards.
I did not break any rules. The decision has been made by an AI. Decisions on appeals are also made by AI (but only once you’ve uploaded a video selfie).
I know that my Companion Animal Psychology Facebook page is still there, but I don’t have access to it. And I don’t have access to Messenger either. The lack of human support makes me feel that Meta doesn’t care about their users.
I do have access to Instagram, at least for now.
All of this is a reminder that we are only ever renting space from Meta and now their AI bots make the rules.
It turns out that lots of people have had issues like this. New Brunswick’s MP had his account suspended, restored, suspended, and restored again after he posted a speech he had given in the House of Commons. Lots of groups were suspended then restored as ‘group title pending’.
There’s a petition about Meta on change.org, and a subreddit for people whose accounts were wrongfully banned. So I am not alone in this experience.
At this point, I don’t know if or when I will get the account back.
The good news is that you can join my newsletter to stay in touch.
And you can listen to the podcast that Meta doesn’t want you to know about here.
Read More...
