Social media users say their accounts were banned by mistake

NBC 5 Responds to an Instagram user who lost access to his account. He believes he was banned by mistake, but he couldn’t reach anyone at the social media company for help.

He’s not alone.

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A change.org petition says Meta’s AI-driven enforcement wrongfully disabled accounts with no real human review or effective appeal. It says it impacts businesses that rely on social media. Other users report losing years of photos and memories.

‘ABSOLUTELY ABSURD’

In October, Tauseef Afraz lost access to social media accounts he’s had much of his life.

“I checked my email saying your account has currently been disabled due to child exploitation, sexual abuse and nudity, which is absolutely absurd,” Afraz said.

Afraz shared a screenshot of the notification, saying Instagram suspended his account for violating community standards. Afraz said he believes the social media company flagged his account by mistake.

“I didn’t do any of the stuff that it basically accused me of. And I was really concerned, like, did I do something wrong? Because I didn’t think so,” Afraz said.

Afraz submitted an appeal through Instagram. He said he received a denial within minutes. The denial said his account was permanently disabled. Afraz said there were no other details about why his account was flagged.

“If I truly broke a guideline, tell me why,” said Afraz.

Afraz said he couldn’t reach a human at Meta, Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, to get help.

“Their help website is just a bunch of links,” Afraz said. “Frequently asked questions, basically. It doesn’t really help. It doesn’t give us any communication to Meta or Instagram if anything happens to my account.”

‘IT HAS TO HAVE BEEN THE ALGORITHM OR THE BOT’

Competitive climber Mitchell Boyer told our NBC Connecticut Responds team his Meta accounts were also suddenly shut down. The account received notification from Meta saying it was suspended for violating Meta’s community standards on child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity. Boyer said his appeal was quickly denied.

“There’s no way that it’s a person that had looked at my account in just 10 minutes,” Boyer said of the appeal process. “I was like, okay, it has to have been the algorithm or the bot.”

Boyer’s mom, Clarissa Boyer, said, “They have sponsorships online. It’s devastating.”

The Boyers said they don’t believe they broke any rules.

“A lot of us are like, you know, the fish caught in the nets that’s not meant to be,” said Clarissa Boyer.

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Around the country, our NBC and Telemundo Responds teams have counted 504 complaints about Meta accounts closed or banned over the last three years. Sixty-one of the complaints mention child exploitation, abuse and nudity. Most of the complaints, 48, were in 2025.

Last year, Meta announced new child safety features. It said it was taking aggressive action to remove 635,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts.

“They’re under pressure from the government, from parents, and rightfully so,” Lon Seidman, an independent tech journalist, told NBC Connecticut Responds last year. “The problem is in how they’re executing; that particular process is being left to an algorithm that can make mistakes.”

In this third quarter integrity report, Meta said its automated systems, enforcing overall community standards, are getting more precise. It says that, out of all removals, the percentage of correct removals is more than 90% on Facebook and 87% on Instagram.

We emailed Meta about Afraz’s account multiple times since November. We didn’t hear back directly. In January, Afraz said he was able to log back into his accounts.

Separately, in Connecticut, the Boyer’s account was also reinstated.

In an email to our colleagues in Connecticut, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We take action on accounts that violate our policies, and people can appeal if they think we’ve made a mistake.”

‘HAVE SOME SORT OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT’

Afraz, who appealed the account suspension early on, said there needs to be a better way to appeal.

“Have some sort of customer support for people to reach out,” Afraz said.

Afraz saw Meta offers “enhanced support” to access email or chat agent support when users pay for a “verified” badge. Creator plans, listed here, start at $14.99 per month.

Afraz said consumers shouldn’t have to pay for what, he says, should be a basic service.

 “To me and many other people, it’s absurd that you had to pay $15 to get support,” Afraz said.

As a general tip to better safeguard content in your accounts, back up any important photos, videos and contacts you have on social media. If you’re a business, have another way to connect with customers.

Make sure you’re following all of the social media platforms’ guidelines. Check that your age is accurate. Set up two-factor authentication to make it harder for a hacker to get into your accounts.

NBC 5 Responds is committed to researching your concerns and recovering your money. Our goal is to get you answers and, if possible, solutions and a resolution. Call us at 844-5RESPND (844-573-7763) or fill out our customer complaint form.