Abandoning Facebook and Instagram

Hi everyone,

I want to let you know that I will no longer be active on Facebook or Instagram.

A couple of weeks ago, I was hacked. You may have noticed a strange post on Instagram that was related to Elon Musk—please rest assured it was not from me. I try to keep my social media posts focused on cats, tea, general geekery, and personal life updates, and I make an effort to avoid anything political or contentious. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been keeping up with my accounts for the past month, so I only found out about the hack from a friend.

When I attempted to log in, I was informed that both my Facebook and Instagram accounts had been suspended and that I needed to verify my identity. After pressing the required button, I was told it might take a day or so. Within 24 hours, I received a notice stating that the verification had failed, and both my accounts were permanently disabled, with no option to appeal.

This was incredibly frustrating, so I did what I always do—research. I quickly discovered that I wasn't alone; many others have faced the same issue. It appears that Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) has automated many of its processes using AI. AI determined that I had been hacked, that my ID could not be verified, and ultimately made the decision to disable my accounts without allowing for any appeal. Furthermore, any inquiries I made to Meta were also filtered through AI, which concluded that I couldn't appeal.

I looked into the few people who had managed to recover their accounts, but their experiences were not encouraging. One user got their account back because they were the administrator of a reputable news source; all they had to do was publish some pointed articles, and their account was miraculously restored. Others who had success needed to sign up for a special type of Meta account, which came with a monthly fee, to bypass the AI and speak to a real person. Even in these cases, the process still took months and required significant persistence. Honestly, I don't have the mental or emotional energy to pursue this further, nor do I wish to give Meta any money. It seems I won’t be getting my old accounts back.

I also considered creating new accounts, but based on what I've read on Reddit, if I don’t create them under a completely new identity, Meta’s AI will flag them, and they will likely be disabled within a week.

After some thoughtful consideration and research into other social media platforms, I’ve decided to abandon Facebook and Instagram entirely. I plan to focus on maintaining this blog for the time being and will do my best to inform as many contacts as possible.

Good luck out there!

- Ilana