Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#1

Post by iansinke » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:12 PM UTC

Facebook has locked my girlfriend out of her account for supposed violations of their Community Standards. They state that the decision “cannot be reversed”. This is very confusing because she very seldom even posts to Facebook and had not posted recently. She is not involved in anything controversial or off-colour either. She has some photos and posts in her account which she would like to recover. Also, it’s very frustrating that she can’t communicate with certain friends.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Any suggestions?

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#2

Post by gus_massa » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:19 PM UTC

The good new is that "permanently" only means "until you make enough fuss to convince us to take a look". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24950097

The bad new is that perhaps you can't make enough fuss.

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#3

Post by PopeDotNinja » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

Any company that wants to be as ubiquitous in connecting people as Facebook is should not have the power to delete one's social life like this. It's inhumane.

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#4

Post by ben509 » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

> This is very confusing because she very seldom even posts to Facebook

They probably think it's a fake account.

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#5

Post by bonoboTP » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

gus_massa wrote: post #2

The good new is that "permanently" only means "until you make enough fuss to convince us to take a look". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24950097 The bad new is that perhaps you can't make enough fuss.

Same thing happened to Bret Weinstein, made a fuss, got unblocked.

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#6

Post by gkoberger » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

gus_massa wrote: post #2

The good new is that "permanently" only means "until you make enough fuss to convince us to take a look". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24950097 The bad new is that perhaps you can't make enough fuss.

I think you're witnessing an attempt at fuss!

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#7

Post by adnanh » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:28 PM UTC

IANAL but have her email them and ask for all the data they have on her. They should be obliged to comply according to GDPR laws?

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#8

Post by kylebenzle » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #3

Any company that wants to be as ubiquitous in connecting people as Facebook is should not have the power to delete one's social life like this. It's inhumane.

If 20 years ago you asked someone to give their "social life" to a private company who could and would lock you out if they didn't like you I doubt anyone would have agreed to it. Nothing has changed expect social norms.

Maybe we need to re-teach out kids that corporations DO NOT have their best interest at heart. Why anyone thinks FB is beneficent is beyond me.

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#9

Post by bryan_w » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:33 PM UTC

1. Buy a oculus or portal product 2. Use the online help to unlock the account

Sad to say, that's the only way other than knowing someone who works for these companies :(

Re: Ask HN: My girlfriend is “permanently” locked out of her Facebook account

#10

Post by unexaminedlife » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

I'd be interested to know exactly what internal procedures Facebook goes through before they decide to "permanently" lock someone out of their account. It's probably not a trivial process. A lot of thought and consideration (especially in today's world) is likely going into these decisions. There almost certainly had to be emails sent warning of such violations. I am not on Facebook but would imagine there'd be quite an uproar if there was no notice BEFORE being cut off.

So my hunch would be that either (a) your girlfriend is actually doing things that violate Facebook's community standards, or (b) her account has been hacked, but even that would probably be obvious based on IP addresses, etc, Finally (c) it's possible her computer/phone was hacked, which means there's probably no way for Facebook to determine whether or not she's the culprit or the hacker is.