[Translation] What happened when Facebook blocked my account

Note from the translator : I wanted to translate this article for Russian-speaking users of social networks such as Facebook or Vkontakte, so that everyone can make a conclusion, and if not go from the virtual to the real world, then at least try to insure themselves from the situation described by the author .

Facebook; a billion people use it every month. We upload our lives and our memories on its pages. We use it to communicate with loved ones, friends and colleagues. Some of us even work with him, arrange events, advertise and manage communities and develop on his platform. He became one of these services, without which it is impossible to live, which can not be avoided. Some of us think that we can, that in fact we do not live on Facebook and can leave it and leave when we want, but these people are wrong. This is not just a social addiction, it turns into something much larger.

Five days ago I was banned on Facebook, and I’m not sure why. I logged into my account as usual and saw the following message:

Account is blocked.
Your account has been blocked. If you have any questions or comments, you can visit our FAQ page here.


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Further verification revealed that I no longer had the right to use Facebook and that “for security reasons” I could not know why.

After reviewing, we determined that you do not have the right to use Facebook. Unfortunately, for security reasons, we cannot provide additional information about the reasons for disabling your account. The decision is final.

A letter to the Facebook team “My account has been blocked”, which only repeated the items from the frequently asked questions page and said that their decision is final, also did not help much.

Being quick-witted and prone to complaints, I took up Twitter in order to pour out my annoyance, and bored my contacts until I found someone in charge in Facebook of Great Britain and did not write to him. Within an hour, I received an answer that my question was already under consideration, but there were no guarantees that I could find out why the account had been blocked or that it could be restored. The next day I received the answer that, unfortunately, because of the general personal connections, he could not help me with my situation because of the “user protection policy”.

I needed Facebook more than I thought

My first instinctive reaction to the loss of Facebook was very typical for our generation, “so what?”. I mean, who needs Facebook at all, right? I somehow managed without his first 18 years of my life. Not a big loss, I will just live as usual. I was just about to spend that evening with friends, that would be a great story for a bar, and I love being the center of attention. I would drink with grief and entertain my friends. Perhaps not using Facebook for some time even seemed cool.

It was just time to leave when it suddenly dawned on me. Earlier that day there was an update on the Facebook page for the event that I was going to attend, a change of venue. Instinctively, I logged into Facebook and again saw the message “Your account has been blocked”. I did not know where I needed to go, and I also could not check Facebook to find out.

No panic, I have a saved event in the calendar on my Windows Phone. I clicked “open calendar”, searched for a message about the meeting, but it was not there. The calendar was synchronized with Facebook, and when my account was blocked, for security reasons, all my events were deleted from my calendar. Pancake.

Not a problem, I will call Russell, he organized the event and could tell me where to go. I looked for Russell's phone number in contacts and ... to no avail, he disappeared. James? It was recorded with an email address and a nickname on Twitter, but there was no phone number. Sean? Same. My phone contacts were synced to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but they didn't actually save any data on the phone or on the Microsoft server. All my phone numbers were taken from Facebook, and without a Facebook account, I had no Facebook friends or numbers. Heck.

Fortunately, my text messages were still safe, I was not completely lost. I found an old correspondence with Russell, called him and added his number as a new contact in the phone. I was saved that night, and it turned out that it was not such a disaster as I was afraid, but I began to understand how much I was counting on one platform.

I am involved in organizing and filming events. I manage Facebook pages and events, only now I can’t do it anymore. Pages and events, thank God, are still there (not like my personal account, photos, and all the information associated with it), however, I can no longer access them. My business partners still have access, but I don’t. An annoying contingency, but I think we can handle it, they will have to take on all my responsibilities on Facebook.

More than just a profile

Netflix, Spotify, Foursquare and a huge number of other applications and services in which I used Facebook to log in are now beyond my reach. Some of these services have additional login options, and some others have been able to help me with access recovery. Here hope is not completely lost.

The loss of telephone contacts, appointments in the calendar and access to other services caused inconvenience, but these were moments that I was able to immediately fix and find other outlets, a business.

Losing the archive with my memories, messages, photos, groups, pages, events and everything that I really COUNTED on Facebook enrages. There is no way to get this information from Facebook, if your account is blocked, it all "went to another world."

Based on the company's responses, the Facebook decision is final. I can’t return to the service, I can’t get my information back, and I can’t find out why I can’t have an account anymore. Facebook's terms of service also prohibit me from ever re-creating a Facebook account. Not that it somehow solved my problem with lost data, but it would allow me to start re-using the service for the things I was used to.

Facebook claims that they conducted a study of my account, and that the decision to “ban” me was finally made for the good of the world. The fact that I live in the UK and the fact that Facebook works here means that I should be able to request details and supporting evidence of their research in accordance with the Data Protection Act, where Facebook acts as a data controller. I sent this request, but have not received a response from them yet. If I did something that violated their terms of service, which, as far as I know, I did not, then I was caught at the scene of the crime, and I just quietly leave. The problem is not in the loss of this service as such, but in the absence of an explanation and ability to recover your data.

Losing my Facebook account is not the end of the physical world, but it has brought the end of the virtual world closer. Consider that this is a modern version of the proverb, that you do not need to “keep all your eggs in one basket” ^{[ 1 ]} and expect that one service will always be available to you. Just think what will happen if tomorrow you are suddenly disconnected from Facebook. In addition to breaking away from the sudden cessation of the use of this drug, which you will experience, think what it is like to lose 5 years of your life and the opportunity to get involved right away with an entire large group of friends and acquaintances.

This story has no conclusion. I'm not sure that I would recommend to those who would be in the same situation, in fact, you can do little. When Facebook decides to disconnect you and never let in again, good luck with getting the answer, your data, or even access to the service.

I think the decision would never be to register on Facebook, but it becomes significantly more difficult. We organize parties with his help, we stay in touch with friends, we pass the time, we work, we live on Facebook. Only not me, now not.