The Californer - Facebook Disabled My Account and Destroyed My Mental Health

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LOS ANGELES - Californer -- Just like that in an instant, Meta took away part of my life. I have always had a love and hate relationship with social media. I believed it was not healthy to be active daily and as a mom of two teenagers, I worry about it's effects on their upbringing.

I joined Facebook to connect with friends and share the joy of raising my two children. As a stay-at-home mom, I started an online business and also used it to promote my business.

For the past 15 years, I had created a beautiful timeline of my children's lives and the many adventures. In addition, I have connected with friends from middle, high school, college, distant family, and new people and groups in my community.

My life changed in an instant on September 30, 2022 at 10pm when I received an email that stated my account was logged in by a hacker in Russia. Within minutes, Facebook sent me an email suspending my account due to posts that were uploaded that "go against our standards". I assumed they would obviously see that my account was hacked and restore my account. To my disbelief, they sent me an email stating "We've determined that you are ineligible to use Facebook" and that their "decision is final". There was a link where you could ask them to review but unfortunately, it states that "We have fewer people available to review information due to the coronavirus pandemic".

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If I did something wrong, I would not have a problem with Meta's decision. Since it wasn't my fault, I couldn't accept this as a final decision. It consumed all my time and energy over the following 2 weeks. I researched online only to find out this happens to others with no luck in recovering their account. I tried unsuccessfully to contact Facebook by phone.I filed reports online with the BBB, FTC and TRUSTe. I reached out to my sister-in-law who works at Meta who couldn't help. I tweeted on Twitter, only to have hackers promise to "guarantee" to get my account back.

Meta took away my connection to my friends and family and my ability to advertise my two businesses in an instant. My whole life was turned upside down as I desperately tried to do everything I could to restore my account. The cost was my mental health and my ability to function properly as a mom, friend, and at work. I have always believed in taking care of oneself and prioritizing your mental health. I have survived some difficult years with Covid and the passing of my mom. Unfortunately, this may be the last straw, I feel broken... I don't understand why Meta doesn't have the resources to handle these types of cases.