Tag: algorithm

Given the official appeal process for the suspension of my account did not provide me with the opportunity to argue my case, I am doing it here.

I believe that my account, like others, has been wrongfully suspended in the context of the “Facebook ban wave” that has been going on these last weeks and months. I would like my appeal to be reviewed by a human being.

An authentic personal Facebook account

My account has been active since early 2007 and has been used to post authentic content and share photos, links and insights with my large network.

Over the years, I have also created and managed various support communities using Facebook groups (most notably and recently, for diabetic cats) as well as pages – for my cats, or my business and projects when I was self-employed. I actually helped many small or medium businesses here in Switzerland get set foot on facebook back in the early days and have been a strong advocate for what the platform has to offer both people and organisations.

I have done my best to use the platform to connect with people, add value around me, share personal content or high-quality information, promote respectful discussion – in a nutshell, use Facebook for what I understand it was designed for. I am also known as a blogger, since the year 2000, and I bring the spirit of collaboration, “not-for-profitness” and openness of the early social web to everything I do.

With this suspension, not only have I lost access to a large part of my network and reach, but I have lost irreplaceable memories of beloved people and pets, nearly two decades of my past, and a trove of information on a wide variety of subjects that I regularly referred to, using Facebook to “bookmark” ressources and interesting ideas. My network and communities on the platform have also been impacted by the disappearance of my content.

Details of the suspension

On Friday August 22nd, early afternoon, I made a comment in a 7000-member Facebook group I have be administering for over 7 years. The comment contained a link to a Discourse test site I was trying out. I immediately received notification that my account was suspended for 180 days for infringing community standards regarding cybersecurity. I appealed, confirming my phone number and providing a video selfie in the process. I have not heard anything back from facebook despite the appeal instructions indicating that appeals are reviewed in a bit over a day. I am confident that my account has not been hacked or otherwise compromised.

Earlier in the month, I got a warning concerning the removal of about 10 of my previous posts for various community standards infringements (mostly “spam”, without possibility of appeal. Here are some examples of removed posts:

This removals were accompanied by a warning that further infringements might put my account at risk, but I had no way of indicating that these were most certainly false positives, or of knowing which of my many posts or comments in the future might be similarly flagged.

Background and impact

Over the years, I have been faced with an increasing number of these kinds of post or comment removals which clearly seem to be in error. Sometimes an appeal is possible, sometimes not. Removals are regularly reversed. As the admin of a large and active support group, we are regularly faced with “waves” of posts misidentified as spam, moderators being blocked from mentioning members in the group, or messages being removed from community discussion channels while we try to help our members.

I assumed, knowing my use of Facebook is in line with community standards, that the post removals of early August would be reversed. I understand that algorithmic adjustments can have unforeseen consequences and that some hiccups can be expected.

As the administrator of a large and very active support group, and as a “hyperactive link-sharer”, I also understand that some of my behaviours on the platform could conceivably trigger red flags. For example, as a group administrator of a very active and engaged support group, I have often been in the situation of contacting people “I do not know” (group members) by Messenger. I also post messages that have similar content and mention groups of members, because we work very hard on keeping our members engaged and active – something that is appreciated and appropriate in the context of our group.

The main group I administer has been supporting French-speaking owners of diabetic cats since 2018 and is recognised for its high quality in terms of content, moderation, support and community. Veterinarians send their clients to us – and in parallel, I run a separate group for professionals counting 3000 members. This thriving community is now at risk, having lost not only its founder, but also the valuable content I have posted to it over the years.

I sincerely hope that this appeal may reach somebody in a position to give my account a fair evaluation regarding my respect of community standards. Also, given the many people around the world who find themselves in situations similar to mine, I hope that Meta, as a company, will commit to improving the way content and accounts are flagged, and to providing an efficient path to appeal for those of us who find ourselves unjustly removed from the platform.

Thank you for your attention.

I can be reached on Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads or LinkedIn. Or here in the comments, of course.