After Facebook account hack and weeks-long ban, B.C. woman calls for social media transparency, accountability
CBC
A North Vancouver real estate agent is calling for more accountability and transparency from Facebook after her accounts were banned for seven weeks.
Patricia Houlihan said after a hacking attempt, she was banned from Facebook and WhatsApp, both owned by the newly rebranded Meta company.
"It's very important to my business, so I was panicking," Houlihan said. "I'd lost all of those contacts. All the ones on my business page, my 400 or 500 friends ... family, et cetera. And how do you recreate all that, right? These are people that are all over the world."
On Aug. 17, Houlihan received a message on Facebook purportedly from Microsoft tech support asking her to call a number.
While on the line, she realized the number wasn't actually Microsoft's and hung up.
Shortly after, Houlihan's accounts were suspended. She received a message from Facebook claiming she posted content violating community standards, which she denies.
She said Facebook didn't explain what was posted, citing privacy reasons.
"You're telling me I posted it. What is the privacy issue here if you really think I posted it?" Houlihan said.
On Oct. 5, seven weeks later, Houlihan's Facebook accounts were back without explanation.
A week after CBC contacted Meta about Houlihan's story, her WhatsApp account was restored although her contacts were deleted.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the bans were erroneous. Since one of Houlihan's accounts was flagged, all were banned.
Experts say this situation is an example of how social media companies can be unresponsive to users and how their processes can be opaque.
Meta acknowledged that losing account access can be distressing and said they strive for transparency. Their spokesperson couldn't say what kind of content hackers tried to post with Houlihan's accounts.
Houlihan requested a review of her ban through Facebook's appeal process, which was denied. She said it was frustrating she couldn't reach a human at Facebook.
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