Users ‘reeling,’ feeling ‘sick’ and ‘frustrated’ after Facebook and Instagram accounts deleted without cause or recourse

FILE- In this March 13, 2019, file photo Facebook, Messenger and Instagram apps are are displayed on an iPhone in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Many Canadians say they’re “reeling,” and feel “sick” and “frustrated” after the Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram have seemingly deleted their accounts without cause or recourse to appeal.

“This account represents years of memories, friendships, and creative expression,” wrote Albert Aziz in an email to CTV News. “Losing it with no recourse is emotionally exhausting and feels deeply unjust.”

Aziz said his account was disabled “without warning or explanation,” and that all of his attempts to appeal have been “denied by automated responses.”

After media reports that hundreds of Meta users had faced similar issues, CTVNews.ca asked readers to share their experiences having their Facebook and Instagram accounts disabled seemingly without cause.

For most, it started with a notification that their account had been suspended. In an attempt to appeal, users submitted video selfies to Meta’s artificial intelligence moderators to prove their identity, only to be told their account had been permanently deleted.

Denise Miller works in marketing and communications in New Brunswick. Last month, an Instagram account she manages for a local skilled trades organization was flagged and suspended for violating Meta’s community standards on child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.

After sending a video selfie to confirm her identity, she was notified the account had been permanently disabled. With it, the “pictures, memories, communities” on her 18-year-old personal Facebook account, through which she was also an administrator for a fundraising page for local breast cancer patients.

Calling Meta’s AI system “junk,” Miller said there’s nothing on any of the accounts that could violate community guidelines, adding she can’t appeal further because it’s impossible to speak with a real person at the company.

“It was a way to keep memories and that’s all gone,” Miller said in an interview with CTV News.

“It’s my information, they’re my pictures, and I didn’t break any of their rules,” she added. “And it’s all AI. There are no humans.”

While Meta’s development of artificial intelligence has been ongoing for years, its use of generative AI both as a chatbot for users and as a platform moderator is relatively new.

“It’s embarrassing and it’s humiliating based on my role,” Miller said, describing feeling “sick” at the thought of having to tell her boss.

“And the seriousness of the allegations that they’ve never once shown proof of or even responded to,” she added. “When you’re going to tell somebody that they’re involved in child sexual exploitation, you better back it up. And there’s no recourse for me.”

Chaydin Hodnefield is a photographer in southern Saskatchewan whose account was also “spontaneously suspended” in June for child exploitation.

In an email to CTV News, Hodnefield said she’s primarily a wedding photographer, but she also does boudoir shoots, graduations and family photos, and that all of her social media posts are “modest” and “wholly centred around couples, weddings, and families.”

“My entire business was that account,” she wrote, adding that two additional accounts she manages for other companies also got banned at the same time.

“I had to get my friend who was Meta-verified to send a support request,” Hodnefield said of a new account she created once her previous ones had been disabled. “I am since paying for verification and haven’t had any issues, however I do think this is a scam to get people to start paying for Meta.”

A petition circulating online, meanwhile, has racked up nearly 40,000 signatures, with its creator hoping to “hold Meta accountable,” and specifically asking the tech giant to “fix the AI, restore access, (and) provide real support.”

Montrealer Shon Pinto said he was “surprised and confused” to find his Facebook account had been suspended last week, and that he’s “still reeling from the shock and frustration.”

“It’s been a digital archive of my life for nearly two decades,” Pinto wrote in an email to CTV News. “From cherished photos and memories to connections with over 4,000 friends and followers, my account was an essential part of my personal and social life.”

Unlike Miller’s case, Pinto said the platform didn’t initially provide a reason. But, like Miller, after submitting a video selfie, the company’s AI moderator told Pinto “within minutes” that his account had been permanently disabled.

“No explanation was provided, and there was no way to communicate with Meta to understand what rule I supposedly violated,” he wrote. “This lack of transparency is deeply frustrating. I’ve lost access to years of memories, photos, and connections.”

Pinto said his frustration lies mostly with that lack of explanation and the inability to escalate the appeal process or communicate with a real person at Meta.

“It sounds so first-world, but it makes no sense,” he said.

CTV News has asked Meta for comment, but has not received a response.

With files from CTV News’ Joe Van Wonderen