It feels as if these issues are only going to increase in parallel with the increasing rhetoric from the US about "other-ness" being "bad", and the co-dependence between the current administration and the US tech sector.
Getting on the wrong side of a cause that is randomly chosen as important by the platform can be greatly damaging. It's easy to say what I regularly read on HN "you shouldn't have your income depend on the whims of a third party" despite it being true. The non-tech folks, which are in the great majority, don't know this.
It doesn't really help that they don't want to know either. But it is the responsibility of us tech-folks to keep letting them know that what they may consider "constant" may well be "variable" sooner rather than later.
I'm not sure why they are blaming AI. It happened for many years. They ask for an official ID, then a photo, then an official ID, then a photo, then an official ID, then a photo, ... and if you are lucky after a few loops you get your account back.
My mom was affected - I've spent multiple hours trying to find a way to unblock her account. From searching around the issue is self-inflicted by Meta account interconnections between Facebook and Instagram. Hackers create an account on Instagram using email used in Facebook, then upload images to Instagram resulting in a ban of both accounts.
While she's based in Poland and under EU guidelines Meta should provide a way to reach for customers, in such case all help articles keep you in a circle referring from one place to another. We've finally tried paying for company account (found articles on internet suggesting that Meta HAS TO reply to paying users), but couldn't even set that up - she already had company account (without ever registering), she had multiple people, with clearly dummy names / avatars, attached to her account with each person having a Facebook page. All these accounts flagged due to ad violation.
Thinking her account was compromised I've asked her to change her passwords - to no avail, connected accounts still were multiplying. Some we were able to delete, some, when trying to delete produced errors (unable to detach because of payment or card). My mom was considering paying for these ad usages because she just wanted to get back access to her account. I've convinced her otherwise, because all of this were 1) bots that will not stop 2) there's no proof that paying will help - what's to prevent this to continue.
There's a court case in Poland regarding exactly this [1] - no human point where affected users should resolve this issue, no place where reasoning behind the ban is explained and can be challenged. There's also a DSA that, while introduced through EU, has no progress in Poland [2]
It feels as if these issues are only going to increase in parallel with the increasing rhetoric from the US about "other-ness" being "bad", and the co-dependence between the current administration and the US tech sector.
This is only one example, and sensitive and possibly poorly chosen for the sensitivity of the topic (or maybe that makes it well chosen), but it was recent: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/07/metas-banning-of-two-anti-zio...
Getting on the wrong side of a cause that is randomly chosen as important by the platform can be greatly damaging. It's easy to say what I regularly read on HN "you shouldn't have your income depend on the whims of a third party" despite it being true. The non-tech folks, which are in the great majority, don't know this.
It doesn't really help that they don't want to know either. But it is the responsibility of us tech-folks to keep letting them know that what they may consider "constant" may well be "variable" sooner rather than later.
I'm not sure why they are blaming AI. It happened for many years. They ask for an official ID, then a photo, then an official ID, then a photo, then an official ID, then a photo, ... and if you are lucky after a few loops you get your account back.
My mom was affected - I've spent multiple hours trying to find a way to unblock her account. From searching around the issue is self-inflicted by Meta account interconnections between Facebook and Instagram. Hackers create an account on Instagram using email used in Facebook, then upload images to Instagram resulting in a ban of both accounts.
While she's based in Poland and under EU guidelines Meta should provide a way to reach for customers, in such case all help articles keep you in a circle referring from one place to another. We've finally tried paying for company account (found articles on internet suggesting that Meta HAS TO reply to paying users), but couldn't even set that up - she already had company account (without ever registering), she had multiple people, with clearly dummy names / avatars, attached to her account with each person having a Facebook page. All these accounts flagged due to ad violation.
Thinking her account was compromised I've asked her to change her passwords - to no avail, connected accounts still were multiplying. Some we were able to delete, some, when trying to delete produced errors (unable to detach because of payment or card). My mom was considering paying for these ad usages because she just wanted to get back access to her account. I've convinced her otherwise, because all of this were 1) bots that will not stop 2) there's no proof that paying will help - what's to prevent this to continue.
There's a court case in Poland regarding exactly this [1] - no human point where affected users should resolve this issue, no place where reasoning behind the ban is explained and can be challenged. There's also a DSA that, while introduced through EU, has no progress in Poland [2]
[1] https://en.panoptykon.org/case-challenging-metas-arbitrary-r... [2] https://edri.org/our-work/6-years-in-court-fighting-against-...
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