On Friday, March 18, 2022, Facebook (or Meta as they are referring to themselves now) wrongfully disabled my Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Being a Digital Marketer means that I have to follow the rules closely not only on my business page, but also on my personal accounts. I am a person that follows rules closely in all aspects of my life. I treat everyone with respect and ensure that anything, and anyone, I interact with online is done in a respectful manner. I have never been a "troll", or "fed the trolls", used inappropriate language or posted anything that would be deemed inappropriate. I have never even been in 'Facebook Jail', and yet, my accounts were disabled.
If you have ever dealt with this then you know the struggle that I am facing right now. Getting in contact with anyone at Meta, let alone a human, is near impossible. I have emailed and sent in my ID to where it is supposed to go, I have used my Twitter account to private message them and even sent a Tweet into the universe in the hopes that someone at Meta will hear my cries and help me with this issue. That said, the automated responses that I am getting say that I likely won't hear from anyone for 7 - 90 days, BUT all my account data will be permanently deleted after 30 days.
It is not a good feeling to have this happen. I feel anxious knowing that at the end of the day these large social media conglomerates can just decide to stick you in a corner with a dunce cap and walk away whenever they please. I am sad because if I don't get my personal account back that means I lose a lot of pictures and memories that were documented and shared there (yes, most I have backed up, but some I don't). It means starting the process to reclaim my Facebook business account that currently sits in limbo or completely starting over - again so much lost time and lost work.
There is something that I have learned from this though and maybe it'll help you too. If you have a Facebook Business Page, ensure that you have a secondary admin tied to that account - your husband/spouse, trusted friend, or even a secondary account of your own with a different email address (don't come at me Meta, I am willing to bet that a lot of you have multiple Facebook accounts too). Always make sure that you back up everything and when you are given the option to sign into another app/website with your Facebook account, DON'T DO IT. Use your Google Account or create a new account with that app/webpage using your email address and a new password. It's not that it's "bad" to use Facebook for that purpose, it's that Google has a designated support team that you can actually talk to in the event that you get locked out of your account. Facebook's support/help center lacks "support" when it comes to locked and/or disabled accounts.
At the end of the day, even if you play nice in the social media sandbox you still might wind up with sand in your eyes.
How can you contact me for all your digital marketing needs while I am in a forced time out? Until I am able to sort this out, my Facebook and Instagram accounts are non-existent, and my Facebook business account for Dreamweaver will be quiet since I am unable to manage it without access from through my personal account. So if you are looking to get a hold of me, please send me a message through my website.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
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