Ever have to prove you're a human? I'm in Facebook jail because they wondered if I was!

We all hear of people being locked out of their accounts for apparently no reason, well this week I had the misfortune of seeing firsthand what happens when out of the blue you are locked out. This is day 3 of my journey so far...

Tues 6th December while training people on social media and ironically logged on to Facebook to highlight the benefits of the platform, I see a prompt asking me to confirm if I'm human? Strange as it was, mid-lesson on screen share mode it wasn't the time to look further at it so I decided I'd look at it first opportunity. With so many random tags from bots these days who are roaming freely on the network, you need to ensure that you're not being led to the wrong place. Not a sign of the notification anywhere else once I got to look at it later so thought no more.

Tues 13th December I'm told I cannot access my Facebook account until I prove who I am on the account I've used since 2009 without so much as a suspension because I am painfully careful to ensure that I don't breach rules, it's best practice for me and for the clients I work with.

Not exactly thrilled to be asked to share ID such as a passport or driver's licence with no information to suggest why out of their 2.93 billion users it was my turn I submitted the passport twice on that day and ended up submitting the driver's licence too - anything to get back to normal.

I get a message on screen to thank me for submitting documents and telling me that they will be in touch if they need more, no time frame, no email to advise on it - you're just left looking at the screen.

Google brings me into their support platform where ID verification they claim takes 24 hours, a bit of a pain but if I have to I can wait a day and catch up on other work. Except it's not 24 hours, we're heading for 72 hours today and it's been a challenge to get here.

At 46 hours from the lockout, I contacted their Data Protection Officer as I was alarmed to discover that I cannot request a copy of my personal data unless I am logged in - and they have prevented me from doing this.

I also have never been given a reason for being locked out. I can't get an update on whether this is it for me and Facebook. I can't contact support because yet again you need to be logged in? Really, does nobody at this company test on user experience?

Within an hour of my email to their DPO I get my first response in 48 hours at this point to tell me the ID is blurred, all 3 of the photos they got? Anyway, submitted yet another photo of my licence to try to end this insanity and an hour later I get a code telling me I'm unlocked but that's not the end.

When you've been unlocked you're given a code to use as a password, that code however in my situation didn't work and brought me back to the screen I've seen too many times this week thanking me for my documents and telling me they'd get back to me? Except on this occasion, I didn't submit any documents.

I appear to be back where I was on Tuesday, I have inboxes with an insane number of emails with recovery codes as I hoped somewhere along the way there was some way to get back into the account which holds my personal data - photos, connections, credit card for ads accounts, business managers access to clients and now my passport and driver's licence too? And nobody is available to help me figure out if I'll ever get access to any of this again.

If Facebook or any other app decide you for whatever reason need a timeout, wouldn't you think they'd offer you the opportunity to download your data? Particularly in light of the fact that a little research tells me there are many in a similar situation for weeks or even months? Not a chance, again a serious flaw in their user experience.

I'm fortunate that others have access to the business manager, ads accounts and pages I access, I co-admin groups so again there are others with access so there's an option if it can't be me until Facebook / META allows me back in. What though if I didn't have a backup on my page or business manager as many small business owners might not think to do? What if my livelihood depended on a group hosted on Facebook because realistically it's one of the more user-friendly, cost-effective options for hosting groups unless you're kicked off it that is.

Facebook tells you that your account will still be visible when you're locked out, again they didn't test this user experience because this isn't the case. I appear on the friend list of others but you won't find me on search, tags on all photos and posts have been removed and if you click on my name on your friend list you'll find I've disappeared.

As I said previously I'm on day 3, given what I now know would I tell people to leave the app? For businesses no, but in terms of what they think of end users whom they make advertising revenue on the back of thanks to all the data we make available to them, well that's a serious problem.

Just two weeks ago I refreshed my META Certified Community Manager accreditation, they themselves verified that I do understand community management on their platforms yet here I am unable to access anything on the app that I have never breached terms of and have used for business and pleasure for 13 years.

Would I, if I didn't work in social media and marketing, make all this effort to get back into my account or access my data? Probably not, might that be a reason many just quit? This article from yesterday on the upcoming live chat feature for those of us finding ourselves locked out without explanation suggests that 1 million people used the live chat feature in October 2022 alone - and that's before it was rolled out to those countries including Ireland where we can't use it yet?

Instagram announced yesterday that they've rolled out live support for those in this situation, I'm guessing they're going to be busy but hope it's a sign I may have that option available to me soon too because they are after all part of the same company.

Facebook's average user age has been increasing in recent years, some figures here if you'd like more info. A lot of their active users are not digital natives, I'm in my 50s so I too remember a time when we didn't have social networks and search engines. That said, I am very technically savvy because it's part of my working life and I have found this journey to get back into my regular Facebook account is a challenge I wouldn't wish on anybody, particularly if technology isn't something you enjoy.

As it happens while typing this article I got a call from my assigned Ads Pro at Facebook to discuss strategy and they've very helpfully created a support request for me so that hopefully we can look at the system live on our re-scheduled call for next week. Another glimmer of hope but not one that is available to everyone.

If you've not downloaded a copy of your data on any social network, make it a plan to do it now because if you get locked out of Facebook that's not an option easily available to you. If you don't have back-ups on your pages or fellow admins on your groups, find some - if you're a solopreneur find a trusted friend or family member.

META / Facebook is making a lot of money out of the data we share on the platform as users, it may be a private company but it's long overdue to think about the end-user experience, customer support and how we're permitted to access our own data.

I'm sure there are many, many out there who wouldn't have the patience to pursue this system of insanity but I want access to my account, I want to get back to working on it professionally as I have for years and more importantly, I want access to my personal information that right now is being withheld from me because of a system that doesn't work

Updated 16th December @ 4pm - just received a reminder to tell me that I didn't unlock my account yet, that would be because the code I got didn't work. Followed the steps and yet again back to the screen telling thanking me for submitting documents that I yet again didn't submit - the message I got yesterday when I didn't submit documents, the message I got Tuesday when I did submit documents when this all started!!

Updated 17th December @ 1.45pm - an email in my inbox offering another unlocking code, I follow the instructions and I'm not in still. At the same time, I get another email from a separate department in Facebook telling me that my advertising account is now restricted also, even though I haven't even been able to log into my account since Tuesday 13th December and haven't run ads in quite a while. I'm told that 2FA is switched on, I don't have access to this and have followed the prompt provided to work around not having 2FA and yet again I am back at the screen I keep seeing thanking me for the documents that I submitted when I didn't submit any today either. I'm told by META that the case is now closed when in fact I still don't have access?

Updated 19th December - another unlocking code, two more emails to tell me my ads account is restricted and now an email to suggest I download ads manager, for the ads manager and account I can't access? Given that they're supposedly the experts in ads wouldn't you think now is not the time to send emails to that list of people who are locked out for reasons that nobody including META's own support department seems to understand? Meanwhile, I know that my account is still live in there somewhere, I can see on my phone that the notifications are growing in number but not a chance I can read them.

Updated 21st December - still locked out and even though their support considers my case closed even though it's not, my account is still in there but I can't access it and I'm assuming this is a technical glitch that they are unable to resolve - after all, with so many screaming for help on their Twitter account alone wouldn't it be easier to deal with it than ignore us all? Here's a couple of their Twitter posts with a LOT of comments with users having the same problem; this one has over 1900 comments at this point on 21st December and this one which hasn't quite so many yet but is going directly to the social media team of Drake quite often when they're copied in the replies (Drake is a singer by the way, popular too judging by the almost 40million followers!).

I know regularly big companies feel they can't deal with every comment on a post, in fairness it would take a team to manage posts that get 1900+ comments but don't they have that at META or Facebook? Do they not understand that they should have spotted the very serious problem of lots of users being locked out for no reason by now??

Updated 21st December - a further update from META to advise that the case is closed, this time in spite of the fact that according to their platform no account exists with my previous email address! Up to now I could see it on my phone but that's no longer an option

Updated 22nd December - I came up as a friend suggestion on another account for somebody else which was a surprise so tried to get in once more and in with just a password rest this time. I have no idea why after 9 days it's suddenly back but it's just the ads restriction to deal with now.

Updated 23rd December - I knew I had restrictions on ads accounts that I have raised with Facebook but turns out most pages I've had access to including my own are also out of bounds - until I turn on their recommended security features that is. So, dreading the journey kicking off all over again I followed their steps and no, it appears that their security feature has an error and they're working on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm leaving this post in place as I know META /Facebook have a lot of work to do on their processes and based on everything I've read and many people I've spoken to online who are in a similar situation for weeks and even months, I know I've been very fortunate to get my account back at all!