Meta disables woman’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, cutting off 20 years of memories

Jasmine Ault says Meta permanently disabled her Facebook and Instagram accounts, leaving her without access to 20 years of personal data, photos, posts and contacts.

Ault told CBC News that she received the notice in the middle of the night. She says she tried to resolve the issue through Meta customer service but could only reach AI chatbots, which did not fix the problem. Even after paying for expedited service, she says she could not speak with a human representative.

After appealing the ban, Ault says she received a decision minutes later stating that her case was closed and no further appeals were possible. She told CBC she was not told which specific platform rules she had allegedly broken. She also said she stayed awake for 26 hours trying to restore her accounts.

TechRadar reports that users have described similar account bans, while the reasons for Meta’s actions can be unclear. The article notes that some users have blamed AI moderation tools for incorrectly flagging accounts, but does not establish that AI caused Ault’s account closure.

Ault described the loss of her digital albums and memories as feeling like “a metaphorical fire,” in comments to CBC News. Her account of the closure and appeal is based on her statements to CBC, as reported by TechRadar.