I have been banned for life from facebook.
Over the Christmas/New Years break of 2024 i was away at an off grid music festival. Upon returning i found that my fb account had somehow been hacked. Fb had sent me numerous emails asking if i was trying to login from various Asian countries. Fb eventually and appropriately blocked my account. My profile name had been changed to “Bot” and my profile photo changed to a graphic depicting a head with a headset microphone.
To unblock the account, fb allows for an appeal process which i went through to prove i really am me, including copies of my passport, current photos and videos of my head, mobile phone where verification codes were sent, etc. Nowhere in the process is there an opportunity to explain what happened, it’s just a bunch of tick boxes. Fb’s response to the appeal is that my account violates their policies (doesn’t specify which) and that my account is permanently blocked with no further appeal. Well duh – i don’t doubt the hacker did all kinds of nefarious things that violate fb policies. I was given no chance to access the account to try and make things right.
So i thought i would just start over with a new account. Within a couple of days fb blocked the new account stating “our technology has determined that this account was created by someone who has been banned from fb”.
So that is the end of fb for me. Good on them for trying to fight the hackers, but they are killing off their good cells in the process.
You can reach me these ways:
Email: t(dot)micheal(dot)young(at)gmail(dot)com (obfuscated to foil bots)
Phone: email to ask for it
BlogSpot: https://michealyoung.blogspot.com/
Instagram: @tmichealyoung
BlueSky: @tmichealyoung.bsky.social
