He also launched a website to keep track of developments with accounts disabled by Meta for being hacked. Parker is compiling complaints on the subreddit. “Complaints to Facebook have gone essentially unheard,” Darel Parker, who works in network engineering and systems management and also lost access to his business accounts, told Ars. Many business owners told Ars that any attempts to appeal Meta’s decisions are repeatedly rejected. Once an account is disabled, small-business owners told Ars, they are “in an impossible position,” just as Lalani was. To do this, the hacker posts inappropriate content like pornography, which quickly prompts Meta content moderators to disable the original account. Then, the hacker moves quickly to knock the original user off Meta before they notice the ad account has been commandeered. At that point, the hacker has taken over the ad account completely. A hacker gains access to a Meta account, then adds their account to the business owner’s ad account before removing the original account owner. What happened to Lalani has happened to seemingly dozens of individuals and small-business owners, as evidenced by their complaints on the subreddit, r/facebookdisabledme. “This is so unfair for business owners and seems criminal,” Lalani told Ars. Someone had bought Facebook or Instagram ads with her PayPal account, and she felt she had no way of reporting this behavior to Meta and stopping any future payments because Meta had disabled all of her accounts. She immediately reached out to PayPal to dispute the charge-and is still waiting for a refund-but she also knew that getting PayPal to intervene wouldn’t fix the larger problem. Despite the disabled accounts, the PayPal account she linked to her social media pages to buy ads to promote her businesses got hit with a $900 charge. Lalani was dismayed, but then the situation got worse. They also disabled her personal Facebook account, her Facebook business page, and her newest Instagram boutique shop profile. She recently rolled out her holiday collection, when suddenly Meta deleted her Instagram account, and any hope she had of promoting her new clothing to followers was dashed. Her Instagram shop with unique, artisan-made children’s clothing-adorably modeled by smiling kids who joyfully twirl in her dresses-has attracted nearly 13,000 followers. Sheela Lalani is one of many small-business owners who depend on social platforms to generate extra holiday revenue.
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