Rant: My Facebook Account Has Been Disabled and I Didn’t Do Anything

UPDATE: My Instagram is locked out too since FB owns them. Lovely.

To say I am not a happy camper today is an understatement. I woke up to a message on Facebook saying that my account has been disabled. This means I can’t use my profile, page or messenger. 

After verifying this was real, I tried to follow the recovery steps, which because Facebook is such a caring company, consist of three forms that don’t let you explain, provide much information, or really do anything. One wants a copy of your driver’s license or other ID, which makes me feel squicky, but I tried to submit it anyway. (What good it would do since I write under a pen name is questionable. It may even raise FB’s red flags that I don’t represent my true self – but we’ll fight that fight if we have to.)

Anyway, I couldn’t submit any of the recovery forms. Apparently, some hacker submitted fake “identity” information for me. This is what pops up when I try:

God only knows what they got on my “behalf.” Um, I’m almost 42, you morons. And if it was due to something else that someone reported, I don’t know what it is.

I am posting this here because Facebook is my most active social media and I obviously have no way of letting people know what is going on. So if anything weird or gross or whatever has been on my account, please know that I didn’t do it. And if you get any FB requests from me until I tell you this is resolved, please don’t accept them. 

I realize FB uses bots and stuff like that instead of employing real people and that any one of my friends or a hacker could have reported me for something stupid. And that really disappoints and angers me. I don’t post inappropriate things, yet hate groups and people who post porn and violent stuff are left to tiptoe through the tulips.

Libby Hawker, I can hear you now, “This is why I left Facebook.” And you aren’t wrong. But I’ve worked for years to build my friend and fanbase and I really don’t want to lose it especially since I dislike Twitter with the vehemence of a thousand suns and Insta isn’t the same.

I noticed yesterday that someone had been trying to access my website and this may or may not be related. I’ve changed all of my passwords on my website and on social and am posting notices on all of my social media accounts. There is nothing else I can do but wait.

If some of you can post this on FB so that people know what is going on, I’d appreciate it. Maybe FB will pay attention if we raise a ruckus, but I doubt it because people more famous than me have fought this battle.

I have no idea how long this is going to last. Let’s just hope I don’t lose the account I’ve worked so hard to cultivate and really enjoy using.