Locked-out owners left in dark by social media giants
Vy Tran feels completely helpless when it comes to trying to take her next steps after her social media accounts were disabled without notice.
It’s been a stressful week for the entrepreneur, who was locked in a fight with Meta to regain access to his accounts that were disabled for violating community guidelines over the weekend.
It’s unclear why their accounts were flagged, but it had a devastating impact on three of their businesses.
“These are my full-time jobs and I speak to all my customers and place all my orders through Instagram, which is the main platform,” Ms Tran told AAP.
“We don’t have a platform to promote… we have three events this weekend and we’re communicating with vendors from there.”
It’s been almost a week since the accounts were flagged, and Ms. Tran is running out of ideas on what to do after her attempts to reach Meta failed.
She is disappointed with Meta’s response, adding the complaint process was done online with generic responses.
“This is a really difficult situation,” he said.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s report, published on Thursday, highlights ongoing problems faced by users contacting the regulator for help.
Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert told AAP it was becoming increasingly common to hear from people who were deprived of social media and had no one to help them.
“Small businesses’ accounts are often locked without explanation or appeal. They lose money on sales, which damages their reputation,” says Ms. Gebert.
“Not being able to navigate opaque systems to address your complaints through platforms impacts people’s livelihoods.”
Ms Gebert says the law does not allow the ombudsman to assist users in resolving disputes and calls for expanded powers to close a significant consumer protection gap.
“It’s really challenging to hear people tell you heartbreaking stories about the impact this has had on their lives and they have nowhere to go,” she said.
“We’re really calling on the government to take action on this because it’s the consumers who are harmed in this process.”
The call is supported by business owner Miranda Richards.
The entrepreneur runs Envy Beauty in Brisbane and only recently regained access to her social media accounts after being banned for breaching guidelines two months ago.
He was also confused when his personal account was closed along with his business account after his efforts to speak to someone at Meta were unsuccessful.
He even considered going to Instagram Meta Headquarters in Sydney to take action, with at least $6,000 in sales lost in those months.
Ms Richards told AAP: “It was really disappointing that there was no one to contact… (so) you were essentially left in limbo.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has criticized tech companies for the way they handle disputes and proposed an external dispute resolution body to help small businesses.
Meta has been approached for comment.
