Facebook Banned Me – Here’s Why

This is awkward to talk about.

I’ve been banned from Facebook. As I was in the midst of posting about their June 26th privacy opt-out deadline, they stopped me from posting (mid-sentence), and instantly deleted my account.

Here’s what happened

Like a few other activists, I was alarmed by what Facebook was (covertly, in my opinion) planning to do, starting June 27th.

So, I decided to post about it, on Facebook, to warn friends about intent to use all of your posts and photos (and photos you’re in) to “train AI.”

That vague phrase – and the way this was being handled by Facebook – raised many alarms related to privacy.

Facebook saw what I was saying, and banned me, as I was still writing my post.

They did not contact me ahead of time, and there was no warning.

So, I can no longer access the Facebook site at all. After this experience, I’m not sure that I want to, though I will sadly miss contact with so many friends there.

These are the articles I’d linked to

• 11 steps to keep Meta from stealing your data to train AI (That’s on Substack. It’s a great tutorial. However, Meta’s deadline to opt-out of them sharing your data… it’s now passed.)
• How to opt out of Meta’s AI training (That’s an article in MIT’s Technology Review.)

This is from the opening of the latter article:

If you post or interact with chatbots on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or WhatsApp, Meta can use your data to train its generative AI models beginning June 26, according to its recently updated privacy policy. Even if you don’t use any of Meta’s platforms, it can still scrape data such as photos of you if someone else posts them.

For those who wanted to fact-check our privacy concerns, I also linked to Facebook’s own privacy statement. Read carefully the part about using all of your posts and photos, with a vague allusion to other things connected to your account.  For me, that’s the alarming part… along with how difficult they made it for people to find out about their plans, and opt-out.

Lessons learned

From this, I’ve learned not to devote so much time to platforms where my voice can be muted or silenced altogether.

And, I’ve realized that it’s time for me to focus on being a “category of one,” as I was when I started HollowHill.com, 25 years ago.

For too long, I’ve been trying to make that site (and my YouTube channel)  “all things, for all people,” instead of leaning into what I’m most passionate about.

That will change in the coming weeks.

What’s next?

I can appeal Facebook’s ban, but only if I give them my phone number. I’m weighing the pros & cons of that, and may buy a cheap phone for that purpose.

But, for now, it’s a firm “no.” I don’t like how Facebook handled this. Not at all.

Meanwhile, friends tell me that my Fiona Broome News page is still at Facebook. (I can’t access Facebook at all, so I can’t do anything about that.)

I may launch a Substack account, but I’m more likely to use my time to shift the focus of HollowHill.com, as well as my YouTube channel about ghost hunting.

Be prepared; that shift may seem radical to those who don’t know me well. (Those who’ve been “reading between the lines” in recent months… they will not be surprised.)

Meanwhile, please let friends know what’s happened, and that I’m fine. Irked, but fine.