In a surprising twist following Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement championing an update to content moderation policies that would promote “free speech” across Meta platforms, I’ve found myself, an independent journalist reporting on serious issues of human interest and neglected conflicts in Southeast Asia, banned from all Meta services, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
Their reason: reporting on human rights violates their Community Guidelines on Human Exploitation.
Upon appeal of the apparent error made by AI, WhatsApp confirmed that the ban was permanent due to “mass reports,” with information they cannot disclose. They further state that they would no longer read messages related to the matter. Instagram and Facebook also upheld the ban, saying there is no further opportunity for appeal, and have never shown any reasoning for the decision.
To at least save my data, which Meta offers to banned accounts, I requested the archive by email and received a link to download it a few hours later. However, to access your data archive, you must be logged in, which cannot be done from any of the banned accounts.
It’s an endless loop of censorship and privacy law breaches.
I dug through Reddit forums for answers only to find that these bans are common, and people often never get their accounts back. This includes businesses that have spent years generating revenue on Meta products, many of which were banned for minor things like trademark infringement or solicitation.
The shared problem in all of these cases, journalism or otherwise, is that AI makes these decisions without human oversight. Though this system has yet to learn how to enforce its human counterpart’s guidelines properly, it already has the power to pull the plug on whatever it wants, and without room for human review on appeal.
Meta’s AI and the Need for Accountability
The potential for errors in AI moderation systems and the lack of adequate human oversight is a wake-up call for independent journalists. The sweeping ban on my accounts — upheld despite appeals — demonstrates an algorithmic misstep resulting in severe professional and personal consequences affecting me now but will undoubtedly continue to others.
As most in the forums seeking answers have done, I reached out to Meta in all imaginable ways, which is designed to be so vague that people are resorting to paying $15 for Meta Verified support that is also often AI presented as “human help,” which produces little (if any) confirmed result.
I’ve been reached by Meta spokesperson Emily Westcott, saying she is looking into it. In the meantime, my phone is essentially bricked with the WhatsApp ban, and all of my public work has been wiped from their platforms and Google Search results.
As an independent journalist, I find this jarring and should be noted by all in the field.
A Call for Fairness and Transparency
This is not just about me; we should all exercise caution in taking words as truth from Meta on content moderation, policies, and how they use our data.
Regardless of the outcome- if Emily Westcott, the spokesperson for Meta, fixes this or not- I do not see a future for independent journalists in their ecosystem.
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