Facebook Closed My Account… Again

I’m not the first person it’s happened to, and it’s not the first time it has happened to me. But nevertheless, it did happen a second time.

[tbpquotable]Facebook closed my account[/tbpquotable]

Back in 2009, Facebook closed my account because I was at my 5000 friend limit and I was messaging people who wanted to connect with me, inviting them to like my new fan page.

Apparently that labeled me as a spammer and my account was shut down.

Robert Scoble came to my rescue, helping connect me with people who could do something about it, and my account was reinstated.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find this message on Facebook.

Wait a second. I was removed for “pretending to be someone else”? I’ll come back to this in a moment. For now, I’m thinking “Great. Here we go again.”

To Facebook’s credit, they don’t completely cut you off when they ban your account. You are taken to this page that has a link you can click if you think they have banned you in error.

Upon clicking the link you are invited to upload a photo of official identification (such as a driver’s license or passport). Once uploaded, you are told that they will review your case.

I texted Robert Scoble, who reached out to Facebook on his page. (Thanks, Robert!)

It turns out my identification and appeal reached the Facebook support team before anyone else came to my rescue. But through Robert’s post, I met someone at Facebook who is now a contact for me should this happen again.

But let’s jump into some thoughts I have on the ban, the issues I am having with Facebook, and an idea which might help alleviate some of these issues.

I have two main pages on Facebook. There’s my personal profile page…

And there’s my fan page.

I started the fan page when my personal page topped out at 5000 friends. Last year, this page was verified, so it has the little blue check mark next to my name.

However, engagement on my fan page is much lower than my personal page due to Facebook’s EdgeRank formula. So I post on my personal page far more often.

Because I am a public figure, my photos are often taken from the web and used without my permission. Unfortunately, there are scammers throughout the world who use my photos in order to con others (usually women) out of money.

In fact, I receive reports from both friends and strangers who spot my photo on a page this isn’t mine.

Sometimes I’ll hear from women that tell me a conversation with someone they thought was me had been taking place for days or weeks. The perpetrator declares their “love” for this person and then asks them for money so that they may travel to meet them in person. It’s scumbaggery at its worst.

And it’s a major headache for me.

If you were to see my Facebook support dashboard, it would reveal dozens of reports from profiles using my photos.

Most of the time when I submit these, Facebook takes a look and the fake account is closed.

But another pops up almost immediately. It’s like playing a never-ending game of whack-a-Joel!

And sometimes I’ll submit a report of an impersonator, as I did for the one above, and I’ll get a message like this.

Now I understand if there is an automated system that closes accounts that are suspected to be impersonating someone else until proof to the contrary is provided. But I have no idea how a human being can look at the profile I shared above and NOT see that they are using my photo!

I submitted this report twice and appealed both times with the same reply from Facebook. It took multiple people reporting the profile in order for it finally be removed. It’s very frustrating.

Here are my thoughts on the ban my account sustained and how Facebook can put the kabosh on some of these impersonators.

How did my account get banned in the first place? I suspect it was one of the impersonators that got tired of me calling them out who reported my account.

Which begs the questions, was it an automated ban? If so, I suppose I could understand. But if it wasn’t, who in their right mind would look at an account that has been open since 2007, has thousands of posts and photos, along with videos, and is connected to a page which is verified as me, and still think I was impersonating someone else?

After I submitted my identification, the account was re-opened without a problem. But how did this happen in the first place, especially if I have such a hard time getting REAL imposters pulled down from the site?

One way to resolve this problem would be to VERIFY my personal account. However, after conversations with Facebook I discovered that it is not their policy to verify more than one account per person. I have to choose between my personal account and my fan page.

Regardless, I know I am not the only person that is having their photos swiped and used in illegitimate ways.

Since Facebook has implemented facial recognition software that can detect my face in photos that have never been uploaded to the site before, can’t they use similar technology to scan profile photos when people upload them to their account?

The photos used by the imposters are ALWAYS photos that are attached to my personal account. So couldn’t they modify software to detect a picture that has already been used by someone else, and then do one of two things:

1) Notify the person uploading that the profile photo appears to be attached to another person’s account and ask them to verify that it is truly them.

2) Notify you if it appears that your photo is being used on another person’s profile so you can check it out and confirm if it is legit or not.

It seems to me that this would help many people whose photos are being used in inappropriate ways. Mark Zuckerberg, this is a great idea if I do say so myself. Are you listening?

[tbpquotable]Like many seemingly negative experiences, I always try to turn it into a positive.[/tbpquotable]

In this case, not only is my account open again, but I now have a contact at Facebook to assist me with these kinds of issues in the future.

What’s more, I was able to share my story with you and create content for my blog. So there’s that. 🙂

I did a live video on Facebook as well to discuss this. The replay is here.

Have you ever had your account closed? Have you ever been impersonated? I’d love to hear your story, so please share it in the comments section below!

NOTE: If you have had your Facebook account or page closed, I am unable to help you with it. Sorry, but I don’t have the power, authority or connections to make that happen.