Facebook Groups Hit by Mass Suspensions
Following a recent wave of mass bans affecting Instagram and Facebook users, Meta users are now facing complaints that Facebook Groups are also being impacted by mass suspensions. Thousands of groups in the U.S. and abroad have been affected, spanning various categories, according to individual complaints and organized efforts on sites like Reddit to share information.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed that the company is aware of the issue and is actively working to correct it. He mentioned, “We’re aware of a technical error that impacted some Facebook Groups. We’re fixing things now.”
The reason for the mass bans is not yet known, with many suspecting that faulty AI-based moderation could be to blame. Many of the suspended Facebook groups focus on innocuous content like savings tips, parenting support, pet ownership, gaming, Pokémon, mechanical keyboards, and more.
Facebook Group admins have reported receiving vague violation notices related to “terrorism-related” content or nudity, which they claim their groups have not posted. Some impacted groups have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of users.
Users who have been impacted are advising others not to appeal their group’s ban, but rather to wait a few days to see if the suspension is automatically reversed when the bug is fixed.
Reddit’s Facebook community is filled with posts from group admins and users expressing anger about the recent purge of Facebook Groups. Some report that all the groups they manage have been removed at once, with violations like nudity flagged in bird photo groups or references to dangerous organizations in family-friendly PokĂ©mon groups.
Facebook Group admins with Meta’s Verified subscription, which includes priority customer support, have been able to get help, while others have reported their groups being suspended or fully deleted.
It’s unclear if the Facebook Group issue is related to the recent bans impacting individual Meta users, but similar problems have been seen across social networks like Pinterest and Tumblr. Pinterest admitted to a mistake due to an internal error, while Tumblr’s issues were tied to tests of a new content filtering system.
Meta has not yet shared what’s causing the issue with either individual accounts or groups, leaving users frustrated. Circulating petitions and pursuing legal action are among the actions being taken by affected users to address the ongoing problem.
