Can you get banned from Facebook forever? The answer is most certainly “yes.” Show
Jason Birch found this out the hard way. The social media giant won’t tell him why he’s permanently banished, but Birch thinks he knows where he went wrong. He says he’s learned from his “little” mistake and would like Facebook to lift the ban and accept his apology. And he’s not prepared to take no for an answer. But is there any way back into the Facebook community after you’ve been banned? We know from the plethora of requests for help that Consumer Rescue receives each week about locked accounts that Facebook is more willing than ever to ban users who don’t follow their rules. These former Facebookers who contact our team all want the same thing: to reclaim their accounts and return to the popular virtual community. Unfortunately for them, this goal may be impossible. So it’s crucial that users acquaint themselves with Facebook’s community standards — before they end up on the outside looking in. Because, as we know, no one is immune to a Facebook banishment — not even a former President of the United States. Surprise! Facebook Messenger is not private.Jason says that his unexpected Facebook troubles began one evening when he was using Facebook Messenger. “After a concert, I logged onto Facebook and was talking to a friend,” Jason recalled. “I was on my laptop, and I accidentally sent a partial nude photo. A few minutes later, I received an alert that Facebook blocked me.” From that moment last summer, Jason has been on an aggressive crusade to get his Facebook account reactivated. He has sent numerous emails to the Facebook team asking, then begging, them to forgive him and reactivate his account. He insists that uploading the “partial nude” was a mistake and he thought Facebook Messenger was private. FYI: No, Facebook Messenger isn’t private. Nothing on Facebook is private. “I sent this photo through a private Facebook message. I did not post it on Facebook,” Jason pleaded. “The Facebook scanner detected it was inappropriate. I was banned from Facebook immediately. Please, I just want my account back.” The Facebook Team: “You’re ineligible to use Facebook.”Throughout the next several months, Jason continued to send a steady stream of emails to the Facebook team.
The Facebook Team did not respond in the way Jason hoped. Although initially, Jason’s paper trail shows what appears to be auto-generated responses to his pleas, Facebook soon sent a definitive answer.
There is no appeal process at Facebook.But Jason was anything but “understanding” about this decision.
Not knowing where else to turn, he sent his request for help to our advocacy team. When I received Jason’s request for help, I reviewed his giant paper trail. Unfortunately, I knew that his case was likely one that we could not successfully advocate. Although we receive many requests for help concerning banned Facebook accounts, our track record for resolving these cases is zero. In fact, Facebook, like other giant companies such as Amazon and eBay, typically ignores these types of inquiries from our team. It would seem that after these companies take the drastic step of banning a user, there is little to no appeal process. Fact: You aren’t a customer of Facebook.And the unique nature of Facebook makes this type of case impossible to mediate.
So there is very little on which our team could base a mediation attempt over a banned Facebook account. And, unfortunately, by Jason’s own admission, he had violated one of Facebook’s terms and conditions. But I sent Jason’s case over to the Facebook Team and asked them if they could review it. Based on his lengthy paper trail, it was clear that this banishment was consuming his time and attention. I thought if Facebook could give him a response that left no room for interpretation, he might be able to move on without Facebook. As I expected, several weeks went by, and all I received from the Facebook Team was an assurance that they would get back to me soon. “Am I really banned from Facebook forever?“In the meantime, having not read my article about the best way to approach a consumer problem, Jason’s self-advocacy mission went off the rails. He bombarded Facebook with more requests to have the ban lifted. Inexplicably, he even sent the “partial nude” photo he thought got him banned back to Facebook to tell the team he learned a lesson.
Then Jason sent additional letters to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Not surprisingly, he didn’t receive a response to those messages. Facebook: “Your account is permanently disabled.”Finally, Jason did receive a crystal clear message from a first-name-only Facebook team member. “Maxie” sent what should have provided the closure Jason needed — his Facebook ban is permanent.
However, Jason still wasn’t willing to give up. When I suggested to Jason that it was time to let this battle go, he told me he will not give up. And he insists that he’s not going to stop trying to get his Facebook life back. 8 ways to get banned from FacebookFacebook’s Community Standards page is where users can learn how to stay a Facebook member in good standing. Beyond the obvious ways to get banned from Facebook, there are a variety of more subtle things that we know can end in the disabling of a user account:
Remember to keep in mind what Facebook is and what it isn’t
Can you use Messenger if you are in Facebook jail?No. You will not be able to use Facebook messenger to post messages or reply to messages while you are in FB Jail.
What happens when FB bans your account?You can't post anything, can't launch, start or even stop advertising campaigns in Ads Manager, can't respond to other Facebook users (your customers) – can't do anything. A lot of people report getting banned from Facebook for no reason.
How long do Facebook Messenger bans last?Duration of a Temporary Block
It has been observed that a temporary block may last as little as a few hours, but could also last up to 30 days.
Can you get banned from FB Messenger?This page is restricted from the use of message tags, subscription and broadcast messaging, and sponsored messages. Your page will still be able to respond to messages according to standard messaging permissions. So yes, you can be banned from Facebook Messenger.
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