‘It can't be left to AI': Laval spray tan business owner denounces Meta over account shutdown

CTV News

2 days ago

A Laval spray tan business owner is denouncing Instagram and Facebook owner Meta after shutting down her accounts over alleged community guideline violations.
For 10 years, Felicia Chalikias built her spray tan business one client — and one Instagram post — at a time.
Her social media feeds were packed with glowing before-and-after photos, tanning tips, and playful reels that kept customers coming back and new ones lining up.
Then, on June 20, it was all gone. She logged in to find her Instagram and Facebook business accounts — along with her personal profiles — disabled without warning.
'My Instagram page was basically the storefront of my business — it's where I did my marketing, it's how clients found me, where I did bookings, all of it,' she said in an interview.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, informed her that the account for her business, Spray Tan Glow, violated its community standards, claiming that it 'doesn't follow our Community standards on child and sexual exploitation, abuse, and nudity.'
Chalikias said no children have ever appeared on her accounts and that her content has always been consistent, showing her work, her process, and her products.
'It's been 10 years. I've never had anything flagged,' she said, adding that such a serious accusation should never be made lightly and certainly not, as she believes, by an algorithm without human review.
Appeal rejected instantly
CTV News contacted Meta multiple times for comment, but the company did not respond before publication time.
The Laval entrepreneur immediately appealed the decision. While Meta told her it could take up to 48 hours to review, Chalikias said a rejection response came less than two minutes later. She wondered how someone could possibly review 10 years of content so quickly.
Felicia Chalikias
Felicia Chalikias ran her business, Spray Tan Glow, mainly through social media. (Laurence Brisson Dubreuil/CTV News)
'That's how I knew it had to be an AI [Artificial Intelligence] maybe having a glitch or just not working properly,' she said. 'Just like there's human error, there's also AI error.'
'Even if AI can be a great tool, when you're dealing with humans, their businesses and their livelihood — it can't be left to AI to make the final call,' she added.
Before the shutdown, Chalikias was averaging 50 to 60 clients a week, but since then, she says business has been cut in at least half.
The financial hit is only part of the problem. She explained how, with her online presence erased, new client requests have dropped sharply, and people who don't know her personally often assume the business has closed.
'If someone looks at my business pages now, they don't see all the years of work I've done,' she said. 'For people who don't know me, I don't look like a credible source anymore.'
She says she's spent years paying for advertisements with Meta to help grow her brand, but that without verified accounts, she has no way to speak to a live representative for help.
'This verified subscription is the only way you can have actual human contact for customer support,' she said. 'I think it's so unfair that people have to pay for this when this is a billion-dollar company.'
Since her business and personal profiles were linked, she also lost access to those accounts, including her Facebook profile of nearly two decades.
'I have family members on there from abroad, I have pictures of every big life event like weddings and vacations — so many memories that were just stripped from me,' she said.
Entrepreneur considering legal action
Chalikias has tried creating new business pages, sending emails, and contacting customer support, with several new accounts being suspended. Although she regrets not keeping a physical client list, the business owner said she never thought she'd need one because there was no reason for her to doubt her social media accounts would someday disappear.
Now, she's considering legal action. Meta's given her until Dec. 18 to appeal the decision before her accounts are permanently deleted.
In the meantime, she's slowly rebuilding her presence from scratch. Word-of-mouth and the loyalty of longtime clients are keeping her afloat, and she's holding onto the hope she'll get her accounts back.