Mass suspensions are hitting Facebook Groups, with users complaining that their groups have been deleted for unjustified reasons.
Across Reddit and X, users said their groups have been banned or shut down, including a Pokémon group with 260,000 members, a “bad drivers” group with 120,000 members, and an interior design group with over three million members. According to these posts, the groups were taken down because they fell into the categories of “dangerous organizations and individuals” and “terrorism.” A birding group with 927,000 members was deleted for “nudity and adult sexual content.”
“These are birds,” wrote an admin of the group on Reddit. “Myself and my Modmins heavily moderate the group. If Facebook doesn’t give me back my group, I’m done.”
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Meta has said it’s aware of the technical error, according to a statement to News. “We’re fixing things now,” said a Meta spokesperson.
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Users suspect AI-based moderation is behind these mass bans. The content and topics of these groups — Pokémon, interior design, birding, and others — are unlikely to break guidelines for things like “terrorism-related” content, nudity, or “dangerous criminal activity.”
Meta has not shared the reason behind the suspensions so far.
Group admins affected by this wave of bans are now taking action. Minneapolis-based creator Chris Moore said he is suing Meta through a class-action lawsuit, encouraging affected creators and businesses to join him. Meanwhile, petitions are making the rounds on Change.org, with one asking to “hold Meta accountable for wrongfully disabled accounts” garnering more than 20,200 signatures. On another petition, a user who moderated a science group with 600,000 members said his group was “shut down for ‘terrorism'” even though the group had no previous violations.
Mass suspensions have been taking place on other platforms in recent weeks, including Pinterest and Tumblr. Instagram, also Meta-owned, was accused of unfair and widespread bans last week, with users suspecting faulty AI as the cause.
Some banned users who pay for a Meta Verified subscription were able to contact Instagram for support, but the rest were unable to do so. Big tech companies like Google and Meta typically make it extremely difficult for users to contact them, and they lack traditional phone-based customer support. In this case, Facebook Groups that pay for the Meta Verified subscription were also able to receive help and restore their groups.
