Facebook

They put restrictions on you for a photo sent in a private message from May 12th 2025 accusing me of Child Exploitation which is a bald face lie! I do not like it that you can not contact Facebook because when I try to send a rebuttal I get this message
We're sorry, there's a technical problem with this feature. We're working on getting it fixed. Facebook
I have never nor would ever hurt a child people who do deserve to be castrated!
Facebook will not show me the photo in question, and It was AI that caught the post, and why holler about a post from May 12th 2025? Facebook needs to be more user-friendly and allow us to take down Reels altogether and allow us to unfriend multiple people ate once and unfollow multiple groups at once! The other day I posted a photo of {{Redacted}} in a diaper that I shared from a group and after I thought about it I deleted it myself yet the restriced me then 20 minuted later the recinded and restored me! There use of AI to make decisions on what we can post is not fair to law abiding citizens who do not post anything Illegal!

First let me start with I am a VP of Engineering for a very large Internet services firm with over 25 yrs in the industry . One of the largest in fact ( not as large as Meta however we have 10s of ,millions of customers ) and I absolutely know how technology works such as multifactor with passkeys, hardware keys, and authenticator apps.

Aditonally I have a very good handle on payment technologies, PCI DSS regulations, and more.
So let me just say that... Facebook is a disaster for support .
If your account has been hacked the level of care and incompetence is mind-blowing.
I have been attempting to unlock / recover my account after that appears to be fraud. The attacker gained access via ?!? magic ?!?

and then enabled 2FA on the account, then setup Meta Pay with a credit card ( not mind and very likely stolen ), and then the attacker purchases Meta Verified with my hacked account so they can pretend to be me!
Again... Some attacker gains access via 'magic' , uses a stolen credit card denominated in GBP ( I am in the US ) , and then purchases Meta Verified with it, Meta was kind enough to send me a reciept of this happening.
If they were in fact able to set up Meta Verified that is rather concerning considering my position within the industry, the Internet scale services I have direct oversight over, and possible implications if people are fooled into believing that a 'meta verified' , yet hacked, account is myself.
How did I figure all of this out... My account was locked which I find odd as I almost never use Facebook ( if I do it's for the marketplace function ). It has been perhaps 6 months since I was active trying to use it and figured some bot tried to enter a password too many times from some strage IP address I have never sourced a login from so the account locked.
This is VERY typical behavior for anti-fraud tooling and anyone of scale on the Internet would do this amounst a number of other actions for the customer ( send a mail, SMS, phone call saying you have been locked down ) but not Meta it appears.
So I was able to start the account unlock via my email address, my phone number and WhatsApp at various times.

I am then greeted with a 2FA challenge asking for 6 digits. First warning sign... I NEVER SET UP A 2FA APP.
How it manifests; If I attempt to do an account recovery Facebook allows me to do so no problem. I upload my ID, or do a live facial recognition, and they allow me to reset my password.

However, it appears that an attacker enabled 2FA on the account so I can not get into it. So I am in a CONTINUAL RECOVERY LOOP!!!
Worse I start wondering what is going on since I hardly use my FB account anymore and do a search for Facebook, meta, and other terms associated with this company. Well it appears many months ago something very strange occurred. I find 2 emails from 11/3/2024 one from Meta Pay, like Google Pay but way way worse, with a company that has ZERO support.

I never in my life used this system and the last 4 digits of the card added is NOT MINE.
2 days later I received and email fromnotificaitons@***.com with a reciept for the purchase of Meta Verified being purchased for 9.99 GBP (British Pounds ) including tax. Meta Verified is used to vouch that you are a real person and to verify you they are supposed to do a live ID check from what I see.
That is IMPOSSIBLE since I never purchased this junk, provided ID ,and I am in the UNITED STATES and NOT in Great Britain ( receipt was in GBP ) so what kind of payment fraud verification are these folks using ?!?!
So I decided to attempt to contact Meta via every support channel available to the public however they all fail and there is no published Meta / Facebook support phone number. A quick query on our favorite search engine brings up a TON of similar complaints like this yet it continues.
Yes those are real contact points included above and 'Hey META you should contact me via those along with provide a protocol for me to verify that it is indeed an authorized representaitve of your organization' . I am not concerned they are there since all are already in the public domain and more.

My private contact info on the other hand well that is for me to know.
A normal person might never get this solved, and I might now as well. However, I am not a 'normal' person, like I said I am a VP of Engineering at another large tech firm, and intend to escalate this mess via a few resources that others do not have.
1) I have a number of colleagues of senior rank at Meta, some very close, that I intend to report this insanity to in the hope they can 'pull a secret lever' to get this fixed if needed.
2) I have pulled their NOC ( operations center ) info and have a number and email for that as well. They will more than likely not respond or pickup but that is OK as I will have the records for my attempts to contact.
3) Normal protocol for high value corporate emails accounts like zuckerberg@***.com, zuck@***.com,ceo@***.com, legal@***.com, risk@***.com, COO@,board@,BOD@,president@,abuse@,security@ and many more means more than likely they are going to be automatically sent through an automated workflow.
The workflow looks for malware, probably several AI / ML engines to mine it for content, the look up info about the sender, such as lif they have an account on one of meta's properties, who they are in the real world ( they certain know ), the senders associates, if any work for Meta, on any intelligence lists, etc.
The various workflow engines will build a virtual dossier on the sender and if it meets certain criteria if will get sent to a LIVE PERSON for review. Now I can not say this is how Meta does it however I know of similar across the industry and for certain email addresses they are ALWAYS monitored even if not puiblished.
This live person will quickly deduce that the sender is in fact a real person, and very likely the person whom they claim to be, they are righfully upset, hurt, and may seek legal recourse, etc...

in short Meta has a problem they need to fix. If they were to figure this out you will hopeful be on your wait to a solve for the problem.
Now if one email does nothing then I am fairly certain that if you send a bunch of email to these addresses something in the workflows will eventually trigger an escalation ( I certainly know it does at my organization ) . People with titles containing director, head of ..., VP, etc will get the reports even if it takes a bit.
I intend to go this route and outline in my communicaton the needed for action and that Meta potentially allowed fraud to occur through obvious and willful negligence and demonstrated a lack of care for the safety and privacy of it's platforms users.
Note; payment fraud could potentially facilitating inter-state wire fraud under the US constitution's commerce clause ( FTC ) since stolen credit cards and more were used to transact a fraudulent transaction in GBP in my name.
Just think about it... A hacker breaks thier secuirty, setups 2FA to keep the real user out, then uses a stolen credit card to purchase Meta Verified so they can impersonate the user.

In my case I am a high level figure in the technology industry with oversight over some rather choice Internet scale service. An AI or human would have taken about 5 seonds of looking at public resources such as Google to figure that out which would be enough to trigger internal procedures in many organizations.
Many tech firms tag and monitor the accounts of high profile users, VIPs in society, or others who are in senior positons at large tech firm, for signs of unusual activiity.
Eamples of unusual activity include, but not limited to, logging in from some IP never used before, or setting up Meta pay with a credit card that is not in the users name, or purchasing and attempting to enable Meta Verfied. After all for that to succeed would be very bad as they are supposed to verify you indeed are the person you say you are.
Not only the willful negligence, but the wanton disregard for safety and privacy is front and center in all of this. They provide no phone numbers for help / support to the public, chat, no email, nothing!!!

It is obvious Meta would rather not help you for thier conduct. That is negligent behavior and something they should be called to account over.
To get this fixed I may need to contact several data privacy & law enforcement authories in California, several other US state, along with the UKs Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") as part of the DPA ( Data Protection Act ), the EU's European Data Protection Board (EDPB) with oversight for GDPR regulations ( I am a US citizen and a EU resident ) , and the US FTC since there are a number of potential consumer and inter-state commerce issues here.
On the legal front I will need to report this via public, and confidential means, to the FBIs National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) along with along with the INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in the two member nations that I have either citizenship or residence in.
'Why am I willing to do all of this?' you might say.
1) A crime has occured and Meta has not provided any avenue to obtain assistance.
2) Commercial payment fraud that is interstate & international was facilitated via thier platform.
3) Identiy theft has occured which can be damaging to an individual, or worse a large groups, depending on how sucessful the crimial is in using that info.
4) Improvements to Meta's security & privacy solutions MUST improve. Just reviewing this without any inside information on thier technology leads me to several 'opertunities' where automation, people, etc should have move into action.
5) I have a duty to report this. Like I said I work for a large tech firm in a role with direct oversight of Internet scale systems.

Anyone pretending to be me could potentially do real damage if they were to fool individuals.
6) If I have to get to this point then I will lodge a civil complaint against Meta on a number of grounds and seek damages as this is simply wanton negligence which causes harm to real poeple. As evidenced by the number of people experiancing similar challenges I imagine there is an entire class of poeple who might want similar improvements to occur at meta and who were also damaged.
The fact that the Meta sercuirity was penetrated, and the account of a highly empowered figure at a well know public tech firm was taken over by an attacker, who then locks out the victim, uses likey stolen credit cards to setup Meta Pay, and then purchases Meta Verified with Meta Pay is alarming at a minimuim and very potentially negligent. Imagine the attacker using a Meta Verified ID to fool thier way into gaining access to technology services, or worse to fool a human into taken action on the attackers behalf.
Like what? Shut down a critical service, lock out others from core systems, shutdown a data center...

Things that would end up in the news and perhaps more.
I will insist Meta correct this via the avenues I have to contact them. They should either purge my account from thier systems so that all PII is removed after providing copies of the data or restore it to a state before the breach with enhanced controls, contact the relivant data protection and legal authorities, and determine the source of the breach so that it can be solved.
Failure for them to take action by ignore this issue or refusal to address it will result in the escalation to the relivant data protection and legal authorities, along with informing several industry regulators responsible for the payment cards industry ( PCI DSS ) since credit card fraud occured and the Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/Browser Forum aka CAB) for potential WebTrust violations. The CAB has industry leverage over PKI infrastrucutre that is used for all public WWW traffic that needs to be encryted and the assurance that the source of the information is indeed the sending party. In this case Meta is used PKI technology was part of thier authentication and commerce tooling with certs issued by public Certificate Authorities.

If Meta will not, or can not correct and explain this issue, then I will certainly report this as there could be a crtical flaw in Meta's secuirty, or the chain of custody of PKI assets in thier remit, or worse yet a flaw in the global PKI infrastrucutre that I would want the industry to look into.
One might think that all of this crazy could have been avoided up to now along with the future escalations with just a bit of customer services and better internal secuirty controls. A phone number, a live chat, or even an email with a guarantee to get back to a customer... Anything is better than nothing.
Otherwise people who are not powerless like me will create thier own customer service pathways to get service and those can be a messy and unfortunate.
Me...

as they say I have 'first world problems' plenty of $$$, several homes in different nations, know how the industry works as I am inside the industry, and can contact a number of others who can certainly get the attention of the right folks.
The average person on the street on the other hand has no chance to have the right thing done for them it appears. Enough noise from things like this and things will change for the better.
Honestly I just want it fixed and for them to do a lot better for thier users.

Dear Facebook Support Team,

I am writing to appeal the suspension of my Facebook account, which was suspended on November 4th due to a mistaken interpretation of one of my posts. I submitted an appeal on the same day, but I haven't received any response or update on the status of my appeal.

On November 25th, I received an email stating that I hadn't completed all the necessary steps to recover my account. When I clicked on the link provided, it took me to a page saying that I had already submitted an appeal on November 4th and that I should wait 24 hours for a response.

However, it's been over 3 months since I submitted the appeal, and I still haven't received any resolution.

I kindly request your assistance in reviewing my appeal and lifting the suspension on my account. I have attached a copy of my identification document to verify my identity.

My account details are:

Name: Cerchez Florin

Email: cerchez_florin@***.com

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Cerchez Florin

Sent twice via here and to any email that I can find as they are a cowardly company that hides. They just ignore everything. I have posted the letter that was sent to them as it would be nice if they justified publicly how supporting a DJ playing a charity album breaches their standards. Also, how refusing to make a reasonable adjustment is justified; it means a disabled person is always at a disadvantage in their checkpoint test.

Dear Facebook Team,

I'm writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction and concern regarding the sudden and unjustified suspension of my account. Despite my best efforts to comply, I was unable to complete the checkpoint challenge due to a disability, which was not accommodated for. My account was disabled following an unproven accusation of breaching Community Standards. The actions I took were innocuous and involved interacting with a DJ's radio show featuring my band's music. I've detailed the timeline below:

I am on a recently released album for The Sophie Lancaster charity with my band Grooving In Green. This was all relevant to the actions I took that go against your Community Standards: A Brazilian DJ decided to play some tracks from the album on her radio show. I went on the article, said 'Cheers,' and she replied with clinking glasses. I thought about it and was unsure if that was not polite enough, so I went back in and edited it to say 'cheers for the inclusion.' I then logged in as my band and said 'Thank you' with a green heart. I am sadly unable to screen print this as you have disabled any access I have. The DJ then asked to be my friend.

It was at that moment a pop-up came up, and you demanded that I look into my camera and look left and right. Due to my above disability, I struggled. I tried my best but obviously failed. That was my appeal. The 'look left and right' test was discriminatory and caused me significant distress, triggering my PTSD and exacerbating my physical disability. In contrast, Instagram offered a simpler verification process. A text was sent to my phone with a number; simple and effective.

Given my situation, I request:

Reinstatement of my account

Review of the decision-making process

Reasonable adjustments to verification processes

My account details:

Email: whufc1980@***.com

Username: Pete Rmf

I've lost access to cherished memories and my band's presence, causing ongoing mental health issues. I hope you'll take immediate action to rectify this situation.

Sincerely,

Mr. Pete Finnemore

On 3 December 2025, my personal Facebook account was blocked for allegedly breaching their cybersecurity policy. The block was put in place immediately after I posted a notice in a Facebook group I moderate about a meeting to organize a protest against some policies of the current New Zealand government.

I am unclear how this breached the cybersecurity policy. I submitted an appeal immediately on 3 December. FB says that appeals are normally considered one way or the other within one business day.

It has now been over a month, and I have not heard anything. I've no idea how I breached the policy, but it's immensely frustrating not having access to an account that (though personal) I use a lot for work.