04-07-2025
Meta must resolve indiscriminate account banning
ADUN SPEAKS | On June 20, I became a victim of the 'Meta Ban Wave'.
Around 5pm, I was logged out of Facebook, my account suspended for 'not following their Community Standards'. To appeal, I had to verify my facial identity, submit a photo of a valid ID, and wait for the outcome.
As my Facebook was linked to my Instagram account, it was also suspended. If I didn't appeal within 180 days, it would be permanently disabled.
No human support was available.
As an elected representative, 95 percent of my Facebook usage is spent on my page to communicate with constituents on policy and community matters, and five percent on my private profile. I only have one Instagram profile, which is 90 percent work, 10 percent personal.
I contacted Communications Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching, who alerted Meta Singapore of my case and the possibility of Malaysian users being affected.
Come June 24 morning, my accounts returned! Sadly, at 2pm, an email stated that both accounts had been suspended again. I did the appeal (again) and waited.
On June 26, I received an email requesting proof of my ID. My accounts were restored, but I'm mildly anxious that it might happen again.
Meta's silence, media's sparse coverage
If you've never heard of the Meta Ban Wave, it's because mainstream media have been woefully silent. However, Meta and Instagram's posts on X are flooded with comments pleading for help, or in the very least, for them to acknowledge the problem.
TikTok and subreddits like r/FacebookDisabledMe and r/InstagramDisabledHelp detail horror stories stretching back to 2024; r/MetaLawsuits has been gathering users, mostly in the US, to file a class action suit.
Some examples of media coverage include:
On June 6, Korea Times highlighted the Ban Wave and accounts suspended on allegations of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). On June 10, Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee's X post said Meta Korea was conducting a global crackdown on child and youth pornography, and accounts that were indiscriminately blocked were being restored sequentially. Meta Korea has not issued any statement.
On June 16, TechCrunch became one of the first major portals to cover the scale of the issue and the possibility that AI may be to blame. A petition, 'Meta Wrongfully Disabling Accounts with No Human Customer Support', created on May 23, has now garnered 25,786 signatures.
On June 25, when Facebook Groups were hit, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed Meta was aware and working to fix things. On June 26, BBC reported that 'Meta admits wrongly suspending Facebook Groups but denies wider problem'. Neither article addressed any form of resolution for individual accounts.
The cost of unfair suspension - just leave Meta?
The Ban Wave isn't simply a case of switching platforms or renouncing social media.
Business owners and content creators spend time and money building portfolios, running ads, and cultivating followings. Public figures (like me) and government agencies are duty-bound to provide consistent and timely communication.
Members of Facebook Groups for peer support, such as bereaved parents or cancer survivors, may experience mental health risks from being cut off from online support networks. People lose access to treasured photos and chats, sometimes with deceased loved ones.
Worse, those slapped with CSE and CSAM allegations face legal and reputational risk. Some were minors or sexual abuse victims themselves.
The Ban Wave has also spawned dubious business practices. Some users started paying for Meta Verified in hopes of accessing human support. They received generic responses, which were ultimately unhelpful in retrieving their accounts. On X, bots promote hackers who claim they can help but are more likely to be scammers preying on users' frustration.
Meta's AI spend vs service
Considering their AI ambitions, Meta must step up its service, especially if AI is harming users. Meta claims to use a 'combination of technology and people' to enforce policies, but the Ban Wave feels as though the tech has gone wrong, and the people are nowhere to be found.
With a hefty US$65 billion earmarked for AI infrastructure and talent, Meta's mega moves include plans to hire Daniel Gross, CEO of US$32 billion AI startup Safe Superintelligence. OpenAI employees reportedly have been offered signing bonuses as high as US$100 million plus large annual compensation packages.
In June, Meta paid US$14.3 billion for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI, which curates and annotates data for training large-scale AI models. Recent reports by Inc., Business Insider, and TechRepublic, however, hint at security issues at Scale.
As an affected user and policymaker, I urge Meta to:
Improve and continuously audit its AI system: Meta must investigate the cause of the Ban Wave and improve their content moderation protocol. Was it a failure of contextual analysis? Why target well-moderated Groups and unproblematic profiles, while porn, scam, and hate content remain up and running?
Make the suspension and appeals process transparent: Users must receive evidence of supposed violations. If users don't know what Community Standards they supposedly breached, they risk being banned again on new accounts.
Add critically needed human support: As a company posting US$2.32 billion in revenue and US$6.43 earnings per share for Q1 2025, Meta has an obligation to provide human moderators with localised/regional expertise to handle appeals. While the first layer of flagging and suspension (notifying, providing evidence, and collecting the necessary info for appeals) can be handled by AI, human support helps address nuances in individual cases. Individual accounts must receive the same level of care as large Facebook Groups, public figures, or influencers.
Improve Help Centre functions: Meta and Instagram Help Centre advice can be an anxiety-inducing loop. During my first suspension, I decided to download my Instagram data. I received an email with the download link, which led me to the Instagram login page. After logging in, the same suspension notice screen appeared; there was no download option. Great.
Meta may be too big to fail; the bleeding of users abandoning Meta after unfair suspensions is perhaps too small to dent their bottom line.
However, with Meta having asked users to trust them with our memories, creativity, and livelihoods, I believe it is only fair to call upon the company to treat users with fairness and respect, and commit clearly to resolving the banning of innocent accounts immediately.
LIM YI WEI is the Kampung Tunku state assemblyperson.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
