Has your Facebook account been disabled recently?

You are not alone!

And it’s annoying since most of the marketers turn to Facebook for social media marketing.

Given the fewer costs of Facebook marketing over others (Google Ads for example), the Social Network is a big hit among advertisers.

I used to enjoy Facebook.

They do some things right as well.

For example, I like their decision to bans ads for medical face masks to prevent coronavirus exploitation.

But, of late, the social media platform has gotten on my nerves- from experiencing Facebook login/logout issues to dealing with account deletion/disabling.

We decided to dig deep into the issues.

As per a post in the New York Times, an Uber driver’s account on Facebook was disabled.

And even though he uploaded a photo to verify his identity, Facebook rejected it.

The driver (Mr. Reeves) did not give up.

He went to Facebook’s office in downtown Seattle to interrogate the issue, seeking a solution.

The workers there did not help him but suggested he create a new account.

Now that goes against Facebook’s terms of service, which specify that users “create only one account (your own).

He created a new account only to find it disabled within a few hours.

He tried again.

Failure, again!

Reeves is not the only one frustrated with Facebook.

Jessica May, a 33-year-old activist of color could not log in to her FB account.

The platform asked the Maryland dweller to upload identification.

She took to YouTube to vent her frustration.

Users kicked out by Facebook have turned to other platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and Quora to share their experiences and find answers to questions such as – facebook account disabled how long?

Read: Facebook Video Algorithm

I understand that it is important for a platform the size of Facebook to have strict control over security to keep off malicious/fake users.

However, the growing number of complaints about Facebook disabling accounts shows that something is not right with the social network.

As per the Federal Trade Commission, such complaints have gone over 50 in the last two years.

Facebook Account Disabled: Facebook lawsuits

As I said earlier, it is not wrong to have strict policies to ward off malicious users.

But the fact that Facebook has a rather “opaque” process makes uu question its policies.

Recently, I was traveling outside the US.

And when I logged into my Facebook account, I was asked a series of questions to verify, which I did.

And yet, Facebook disabled my account.

It has been over two months since that incident, and my account is still disabled.

How Artificial Intelligence Affects Digital Marketing

Some users have taken the legal route against Facebook.

Mustafa Fteja, a resident of Staten Island, sued Facebook in a New York court in 2011 on grounds of religious discrimination, after his account was disabled.

While Facebook won the case since Fteja was unable to provide proper documents, it triggered a bunch of lawsuits thereafter.

A Polish antidrug abuse group sued Facebook for disabling its Facebook page.

The group said that Facebook was violating their free speech rights.

A Swedish user used the job-application-route to get in touch with a “human” on Facebook.

The user’s account was later enabled.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal took a heavy toll on Facebook.

A month after the news (April 2018), Facebook likes, shares and posts dropped by almost 20%.

Roger Ebert’s Facebook Page was removed for a brief period after he commented about deceased Jackass star Ryan Dunn.

He tweeted about the situation:

Facebook Account Disabled: What You Can Do?

I am sure you know how to appeal if your Facebook account has been disabled.

However, just as a precaution, it makes sense to back up your account.

After all, you never know when Facebook drops the ax on you.

The Story After Facebook account deletion/deactivation

Facebook allows users to deactivate or delete their accounts. 

You might think that by doing one of the two, you are ending your ties with Facebook.

Wrong!

Facebook doesn’t outline details about the continued data collection.

With over  275 million websites using the FB share button, Facebook’s Audience Network is still able to collect data about you.

Hence, if you want to end all ties with FB, account deletion is perhaps the best best.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated at the Munich Security Conference that Facebook removes more than one million fake accounts every day.

As per their 2019 Q3 report, Facebook disabled 1.7 billion fake accounts.

If we add the last four quarters, the number grows to 6.6 billion.

Conclusion

Millions of users turn to facebook messenger, facebook marketplace and facebook ads to buy/sell things. 

I am not saying that Facebook should not be strict about their policies.

However, given the rising complaints of wrongful account disabling, Facebook should introduce validated identities.

You can read their standards on fake facebook accounts here.

Has your Facebook account been disabled recently?

Were you able to get back on the platform?

Share your experience in the comments.