About a month ago I logged into Facebook to find that my Facebook business page was unpublished.
As you can see above, here was one button where I could “Disagree With Decision”. I clicked it but that went to an orphan page saying only: “we’re reviewing this decision although we are short staffed at the moment due to COVID-19.”
I also sent live chat messages to Facebook support asking to review the decision. I got no replies.
It’s been a month and I’ve heard nothing back from Facebook …
In the above video you can listen to my thoughts about what to do when your Facebook page is unpublished by Facebook.
So, I think I’ve done everything to get Facebook to review the decision. However, if anyone knows anything else I can do to get it back then please reach out to me!
What did I do wrong?
The page is about 10 years old. I called it Facebook.com/RobCubbonDotCom. Basically, most businesses have to have a Facebook page – especially online businesses. You can’t run Facebook ads without a Facebook page, for example. (Although I never ran Facebook ads).
So for 10 years, I posted updates of my blog posts and my YouTube videos, etc. A few years ago, I started posting image quotes of an uplifting, spiritual or self-improvement quotes with the pretty picture. That gave me about 35,000 Likes on that page. So the only thing that page was any good for was a little bit of social proof.
I did nothing wrong. As far as I can see, I did nothing that is against Facebook’s Community Standards.
This is NOT investment advice …
(Slight change of subject, but bear with me.) I’m going to tell you a really important point about online business. But first, here is an important point about money in general…
Read anything about financial investment and you will hear about the importance of diversification. If you can, you invest in diverse stocks across different industries, across different regions. And you don’t just invest in stocks, you diversify your investments (if you can) in stocks, commodities, bonds, property, etc.
But THIS is great business advice …
Why am I telling you this? Because it’s great advice for online business and great advice for all businesses:
Vary and diversify your income streams!
And not only that, in online business:
Don’t ever build your business on one platform!
And, a great way to protect yourself against something like this happening is to:
Build an email list!
So what am I gonna do about this?
Assuming that I’m right and there’s nothing I can do to get my Facebook page published again, then I’m not going to do anything.
I’m actually not that pissed that Facebook unpublished my business page. It’s a bit of a hassle as I’ll maybe have to make a new one.
But, I don’t like Facebook. I don’t enjoy using Facebook. I only use it because everyone else does and I need to communicate with my friends and business associates there.
My niche is for the independent online entrepreneur. And online business is, in my opinion, not for Facebook. YouTube and Google searches do much better.
Am I invulnerable? No, of course not. There could be changes to the Google algorithm that will stop me getting traffic or I could get my YouTube account banned. However, I do have an email list.
Big Tech Bad?
Never build a business that relies on one big tech platform. They can not be trusted.
Read this: 8 Reasons To NOT Become An Entrepreneur (And 9 Reasons Why You Should). This is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about the possible pitfalls of nascent online businesses. Pitfalls like:
- Google algorithm changes
- Google banning your Adsense account
- Decrease in organic reach in Facebook’s News Feed
- Amazon account suspensions
- Copyright trolls (eg. Getty)
- Email app (eg. Mailchimp) kicks you off for supposed spam
The above are 6 examples of how billion (or trillion) dollar monopolies can kill smaller companies by algorithm.
Amazon are notorious for pulling products and sellers off their platform. There’s no reason given, there’s no recourse, you can’t take them to court, you can’t do anything.
There are probably millions of businesses around the world that, if they lost their Facebook page tomorrow, it would crash them completely.
I remember vividly in 2012, when Google introduced some important algorithm updates. People woke up one morning to find their income reduced to zero overnight.
Some people will say “you must have done something wrong, it’s your own fault. The tech giants don’t make mistakes.”
Although it’s not a human being that unpublished the Facebook page, it’s an algorithm. Algorithms are programmed by human beings and human beings make mistakes.
It’s always been like that but it will get worse in the future. You only have to look at the share price of the big tech companies, as well as every other metric. Facebook’s user base is growing despite advertising boycotts. The tech giants’ power is unassailable and getting bigger.
It’s their playground and you play by their rules. We’ve always known this. However, everyday Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc., get a bigger market share, more of a monopoly, get more powerful, etc. So you’re going to hear more stories like this one in the future.
So what should we do?
So the morals of this story are:
- don’t build your business on just one platform,
- diversify the platforms
- have multiple income streams
- collect email addresses of your audience/customers
This isn’t possible if you’re just starting out, and it wasn’t possible for me when I was starting out. But, 15 years later, I can weather the storm. It took me years to diversify properly.
But, if you’re just starting out, you’ll start to have success on one platform at first and that’s understandable. But, sooner rather than later, you have to start thinking about diversification.
What about you?
As always I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
I’m so sorry this has happened to you Rob. Can’t see where you broke the guidelines. As you rightly point out, one should not build one’s business on a single platform. Ideally create an email list and make our websites the hub of all activities with social media platforms being outposts to bring visitors home to our website.
Great post Rob…
As you say, don’t put all your eggs into one basket…
I’m sorry this has happened to You after all your hard work.
But you say it’s an algorithm that’s done this? If so, it can’t be too personal.?
I have heard of a way to limit this happening – and preventing the algorithm from banning pages.
Simply it’s just running a small ad… A simple boost post even. If it gets approved, then the chances of a ban are more limited.
Not sure whether the tip is 100% correct – however there’s some truth that Facebook are wanting to get rid of accounts that don’t add revenue.
Take care.
Marty..
Hey Marty, interesting idea about the ads. It’s funny, I didn’t mention it, but I did run ads from that page years ago, and it was completely unsuccessful. I hadn’t done any ads on FB for a long time though when the page was unpublished.
Let’s say it again: don’t put all your eggs into one basket…
Hello Vatsala, “social media platforms being outposts to bring visitors home to our website” – yes, indeed! Thank you for your comment.
Grossly unfair. Especially when they can’t give you a reason. Google are the same, when I first started internet marketing I made a mistake with google adwords and they disabled my account. They wouldn’t tell me what I’d done and to this day they still won’t reinstate my account. I say murderers and war criminals get better treatment.
You’re probably right to not worry but I just know that one day they will pay they price for their ignorance, and like all the other big corps they are just bullies.
Yes, Simon, I think if you talk to just about any online entrepreneur they have a similar story – if you’ve been in this game for long enough this will happen to you sooner or later. It’s not nice, it’s not fair, but it is what it is. We continue to fight the good fight.
Rob – this is a common occurence, and in fact, in the last 2 months many of us in the publishing space have seen our accounts closed and pages unpublished with no explanation at all. You CANNOT get your page back. Although there is a dispute button, if you dig into their TOS/guidelines, you will see that it also states that the decision is final – in large part because when they unpublish your page or your account, it is in fact deleted from the system.
The real lesson here is that you should never build your business on someone’s else’s real estate. Make your own domain your focal point for all traffic because it is the only place you have some ownership and control over. And even that is never 100% in your control.
Hello Melody, thank you for your comment, because, until now, I’d not actually heard of this happening to anyone else, although I’d suspected it had. Thank you for that particular insight into Facebook page owners in the publishing space. I’m not completely in the publishing space but I create a lot of content on Amazon KDP and self-publishing.
“The real lesson here is that you should never build your business on someone’s else’s real estate. Make your own domain your focal point for all traffic because it is the only place you have some ownership and control over. And even that is never 100% in your control.” Agreed!
Facebook is a total mess and I don’t trust it one bit. I have created ads for many years only to find out recently that all my add accounts have been shut down for no apparent reason. No response after asking why either. BUT they will still allow you to boost posts, which are basically crappy versions of their ads. Your article is 100% spot on and like you say, anything we do can fall victim to the whims of any of these online giants. They ALL suck and make me yearn for the days before Internet was even an idea.
Hi Bill, thank you for your input. “make me yearn for the days before Internet was even an idea” – I understand you. But I yearn for the days when the internet as freer, more democratic, and exciting! In the early 2000s the big tech companies weren’t so much in control and the world was a much more supportive and less polarised place!
Agreed. It was so much more fun before it became commercial and taken over by monopolies.
Several of my client’s website was blocked by Facebook and it was really a hactic process to get in unblocked. There was no one to contact
Yup, Umair, there’s no feedback / comment / support from FB!
How did you get it unblocked/republished Umair ?
I didn’t, Ali. It’s still unpublished 🙁
Digital Sharecropping.
It’s been issue on the Web since the 1990’s (it’s inception.) Classic eary examples were the likes of eBay. It’s always been dangerous.
https://copyblogger.com/digital-sharecropping/
Hey Scott, I actually think I remember that term! Yes, this issue has been around for a long time.
I’m SO SO sorry this happened to you. There is plenty of stuff on FB they would do well to “Unpublish” but your content is not one of them. 🙁 Your article is an important reminder to us all
True, Megan, thank you for your support.
FB, like the other monster on-line presences, seem to be a law unto themselves. FB pulled me down some time last year. I protested and was told it would be investigated. A few days later I received a notice saying I had been reinstated. Still, I never found out why or what happened.
Lots of mysterious things like that happen on FB, Michael, thanks for your comment.
Thanks for the post and sharing your situation. I admire your positive can-do attitude. Everything you say makes sense to me. All the best.
Thank you
Hi Rob,
I have been telling my clients for months not to rely solely on Facebook or other social platforms. The issue you faced could be as simple as someone reporting you either out of malice or perhaps being upset by a post. I am a developer and I am in the Facebook Developers area a lot and see this as being way too common. It is possible to get your page back and in fact I have had some success in getting my own back. It is not a quick fix but if you keep at it you will get that page back.
That’s interesting, Edward, I had heard that you can delete 2 years’ worth of posts and that might help as you might delete whatever the problem post was. But then, I really couldn’t be bothered to do that because it would be too time-consuming and my FB page was never that important. But it would be nice to find out more about this. Do you have any more information about this – getting the page published?
Hi its been 1 month since my Facebook Gaming page got Unpublished, i had supporters and 5000 followers on that page.
It got unpublished without any reason.
I dont know what or where i even went wrong?
That page was my full time job due to my current medical condition..
(Im a streamer) so i would stream games off that page and now ive lost it all.
What happens to my supporters that still pay their subscriptions on the old page? Would you know anything about this.??
Any help to me at this moment is truly appreciated.
Hello Michael, I’m really sorry I can’t help you. I’m getting a lot of messages like this at the moment. What can I say? I have no idea what to do if Facebook decides to unpublish your page. They can do what they want!
You should be shut down you are so full of shit.
Thank you for your comment.
Face… do I look bovvered? Glad to hear you don’t like facebook too. I am and know so many businesses and rlp’s (real live people) who have turned their backs on fb and never looked back. Interesting article nonetheless and thank you.
Haha, An. That reminds me of a TV show from the UK! Thank you too.
Mine just got pulled. Has anyone managed to get theirs republished?! Nightmare
sorry, Sophie, there’s no good news about this.
Had my u piblished too Rob been running it for 10 yeats has 47000 members..ive appealed and heard nothing..will i get it back oris that it do u think
I never got my Facebook Page back and I’ve no idea how you do so. Sorry!
I’m in the same boat, as far as my new page being “in Review”. My FB Official and Verified page was highjacked and stolen and “they” were selling things in Cambodia & Thailand. Then, I started a 2 way authentication process for that page, got it back AND then the high jackers figured that out and hacked & deleted the whole page again today. It’s so frustrating and time consuming. And there is not a living person within the FB system who’s willing/able to talk to any of us!
Hello Sondra, I’m really sorry to hear about your problems with Facebook. I agree it’s frustrating. But we can’t do anything.
Why not do a group lawsuit?
I think we’d lose …
I’m sorry you went through this. It just happened to me and it only proves Facebook is a company not to be trusted. So, don’t keep trying to publish adds with them when you see they’re useless.
I tried with a few adds now and then years ago. After a year not advertising, they unpublished my page. The only explanation they give is ‘Read our policy terms’. This way it is impossible for us to correct and amend whatever is so important for Zuckerberg’s company. Replies to my questions and complaints via mail are copy-paste.
BTW, I’m just a vocational writer publishing my writings and the ones of people I like. So, not even small business. Simply amateur staff with very little repercussion. Shame on you, FB!
Facebook is a company not to be trusted. You can say that again! I never had any luck with ads. Thanks for your input, Pila. And best of luck!
This happened to my business as well, were you able to publish your facebook page again?
Nope! Sorry, FB sucks!
Thank you for this. My Facebook page was unpublished after they sent me a mail telling me to change my password due to unusual activity. They unpublished all my pages. I have chatted with their Support Page assistant and filed a complaint.
They told me they will get back to me in 2 to 3 days. Six days later, I am still waiting.
How did you manage to chat with a Support Page assistant and file a complaint? I’ve tried the Help Centre and submitted comments there hoping someone will direct them to the appropriate “department”, but very doubtful that’ll get me anywhere. The “appeal” option gave me the excuse that they’re short-staffed due to Covid and basically says I’m SOL.
We’re a small Northern town clinic in operation for over 50 years and if I start another page, I can’t call it our business name again!
I sympathise with your predicament, Val. I tried the Help Centre but I never got anywhere with them and gave up.
Well, at least you got a reply, Egbo. I’m sorry for the bad experience you’ve had. It’s very stressful. I hope it gets sorted out. Nothing worked for me, sadly.