CLEVELAND — Social media — it's the first thing many of us check in on in the morning before we're even out of bed. Imagine waking up to find that your Instagram or Facebook account has been disabled, and any trace of you has been removed from public view.
For Monica Meitin, or @MaxoutMonica on Instagram, that's what happened to her recently on vacation.
"I was given the option to appeal by submitting my photo id, along with my email address, along with 360 degree video of my face," said Meitlin.
She said at first she laughed it off and thought the misunderstanding would quickly be resolved because "the reason that they gave was child sexual exploitation, which is insane."
Her account does have photos of clients, some of whom are minors, none questionable in nature, all celebrating their athletic accomplishments.
"To have an accusation like that over my head, I thought that this was something that was going to be resolved right away because I don't post any of that sort of stuff and it was 42 days later before I even had a response from Meta," she said.
In that time, she said her business, a lot of which flows through her Instagram account, was greatly impacted.
"That is my marketing operation, that's my business, that's how I showcase my clients, that's how I showcase work, that's how I showcase my content," she said. "It's kind of like going into work one day, and you're just like where did my desk go? And then you go look over to your co-worker Sherry and you're like 'hey Sherry where's my desk and where's all my stuff' and Sherry looks at you like 'who are you?' Like it's that same feeling."
Amanda Tirotta of Ashtabula County can relate on a different scale. She administers a Facebook account promoting the projects of the Civic Development Corporation of Ashtabula County.
"We use that (page) to promote our organization and our projects that we're sponsoring," she said.
But she logged on recently to see that her account was disabled for violating community standards. Her offense? Posting a video on her personal Facebook page, which is connected to the business one, with pictures celebrating her wedding anniversary. What made it frustrating was that it happened in the midst of a key fundraising drive.
"We run a capital fundraiser once every five years. We use that to promote our organization and our projects that we're sponsoring," she said. "Usually, this is where we're sending that donate button and people are able to see the impact that we've had on past projects and current projects they're able to click that button and get right to our website and finish, help us cross that finish line. It's hindering that."
Both Tirotta and Meitin reached out multiple times to Meta in an effort to get the matter resolved and their pages restored, all to no avail. Through research, they learned they were not alone and the best ways to proceed.
"I filed a report with the Ohio Attorney General, I filed a report with the Better Business Bureau, I filed a report with the FTC, nothing, nothing and I emailed them constantly," said Meitin, who eventually took the extraordinary step of filing suit in small claims court.
Meta then contacted her, and four days later, her account was back, she said.
Tirotta is still fighting and had this message for Meta.
"Please review your policies and get them in check fast and I think everyone's owed an explanation, an apology, we're working on it anything? But no response is not a good response," she said.
In the interest of full disclosure, I, too, had my Facebook account disabled by Meta in June. For years, I've had both a personal and professional page connected to two different email addresses.
Meta disabled my personal page believing that I was impersonating John Kosich on TV.
It happened once before, years ago, and the matter was quickly resolved.
This time, I too was unable to get any response initially from Meta.
I only did after signing up for a free trial of Meta Verified, which offered enhanced support.
They were immediately responsive, and after answering their questions and providing an explanation, I was able to get the account restored. It was then disabled again by Meta a few days later.
This happened several times over the next two weeks before finally, Meta conceded there was nothing more they could do to keep it from happening again, and the account of 16 years at this point remains permanently disabled.
