Violated by Facebook

Chuck Zimmerman

FacebookHas this happened to you (FB account blocked)? If so, how did you handle it?

It has only been 4 days since Facebook blocked my whole account. Many of my friends have had this happen. Almost all were able to get unblocked. None of them were violating FB standards. This is in part the result of the AI being used to determine what is okay and what is not okay. It’s also in part because of a concerted attack by people who have activist agendas and work hard to cancel those they disagree with. Top that off with actually having your account hacked by some unknown person and it is amazing this doesn’t happen even more often. It’s not just Facebook either.

In my case, I got a notification that someone had reported the business page I have in my account for AgWired. I clicked through but didn’t see what was being reported. Right after that I got a notification that my account might have been accessed by someone and to take steps to secure my account. It was a Chrome browser on a Windows computer in Chicago. I was just about to delete it when my page was completely blocked. I chose to disagree and followed all FB steps which included changing my password, uploading proof of my identity (I used my passport), make remarks about what might have triggered this, etc. So, I’m waiting the verdict. This apparently was focused on my AgWired page on which I post stories using content we create for on-location events, news release distribution, latest episodes of podcasts we produce and more. I have been very careful not to violate any social media standards. I don’t actually know what caused this since I wasn’t given a reason.

This happened during my work in Minneapolis last Friday morning. I am the one who feels violated if anybody and the fact that you can’t talk or chat with anyone makes matters worse. I sincerely hope this gets a positive resolution. From a personally standpoint it has been a great communication mechanism for me and my family as well as my work.

I have communicated with several people who have recently had this happen. It has affected them like me and not all of them have been unblocked. I read posts just recently of a few people I follow on Twitter who have just lost 10-15,000 followers over night. I’ve heard it said that it is a conservative purge prior to the election. I also believe we are being targeted by people who are just plain anti-agriculture.

For you agri-marketers out there. What are your thoughts? People I’ve known who are having this happen include farmers, media and other influencers that I believe you want to reach.

Post Update: I got it back on November 7th. Apparently my account was hacked via my AgWired business page. The interesting thing is that my business pages were not blocked although I couldn’t see them or work on them. So, as soon as I could log in again I checked the AgWired page and found an un-authorized ad center admin. I canceled him immediately but he or they somehow placed ad campaigns that never showed up on the page and were charged to a credit card that I don’t have. FB disabled the account, which btw, doesn’t officially show up in my list of ad accounts. Very strange. I spent too much time on this but have learned a lot. And the main thing is that the Facebook of today is now part of the Metaverse and apparently you automatically have an account there to allow you to do all kinds of things. It is complicated and you would need classes in how to actually use all the elements involved. I’m going to stick to simple and am still waiting on Facebook to delete the activity the hacker did in the time I was blocked. Enough on that.

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