Facebook Lock Out: A Lesson on Social Media Sharing

You know, there are some people that just cannot handle the truth. When you mention the truth to others on a social media network such as Facebook, and your friends share these truths with their friends, these people are bound to see the post.

Now a normal person would just be all, “Well damn, I guess I can’t say anything about that since it is true,” and would just move along and ignore it. Or they might leave a comment on the post and tell their side of the story that might not have been included in the initial share.

Now me? If I see something posted about me online, I’m going to step up and give my side of the story and say what I think and/or feel. If it’s something that I would rather not have out there for the world to see, I would ask the person who originally posted it to remove it.

See, I’m old-school and I believe that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If someone has a problem with me or my kids or my husband or my dog – be a woman and step up and discuss the issue with me personally. Don’t be a little bitch and go running to the boss, or the cops, or the store manager, or the property manager or report it to the social media network police.

Be a freaking woman and deal with me directly if you don’t like something I’ve said.

Alas, most people aren’t like that any longer. Social media has given us the tools to literally turn a person’s entire life upside down with just a click or two. Don’t like something said on Facebook? Report the person who wrote it and get them locked out of their account. Doesn’t matter if what you said is true or not, if you report them, Facebook will block them for a few hours to several days from posting and if you keep on reporting them, they can eventually get your Facebook account closed permanently.

Sharing the Facts on Social Media Isn’t Enough to Protect You

I’ve had this happen to me. Shared factual information about a person and their actions to warn others to stay away from them and their multitude of businesses. Posted a link to a news clip from a television station in their hometown. Provided a link to publicly available court information about this person that showed a history of fraud going back ten years or more. All facts. All backed up by documents.

Did Facebook care? Nope. This individual hit the “report” button on every post and has had me locked out of my account several times. Instead of giving her side of the story (as I have asked repeatedly for her to do) she would rather hide behind a computer screen and be an anonymous snitch to try and shut me up so that she can continue to lie, cheat, steal, and con others out of their hard-earned money while she files for bankruptcy against all of the businesses and people that she’s scammed.

Facebook offers you, the accused, absolutely no avenue to dispute a report. You can check a little box and say that you don’t agree with it and they’ll send you to their Community Guidelines page which is nothing more than double-talk.

I can report you for sharing a photo of a fat cat and claim that it’s offensive. If the individual on the other end at Facebook agrees, boom! You’re locked out of your account for 24 hours. Share a few more fat cats for me to report and guess what? I can get you locked out for days at a time and possibly get your account removed.

Is there an email address you can use to contact Facebook to dispute a report? No. Is there a phone number that you can call to reach someone at corporate headquarters? Yes. You can call (650) 543-4800 and press “1” for Facebook and then wait for an eternity to finally get someone in the right department to handle your complaint only for them to tell you there’s nothing they can do about it.

Is It Worth the Fight?

In instances like this, you have to ask yourself – is this really something that I want to fight about? Is it a matter of life and death? Is it going to bring harm to my family if I sit back and do nothing? If the answer is yes, then by all means, fight for what is your right and belief.

You know what though?  This whole thing is not my fight. Other than being a pain in my ass for reporting me to Facebook and getting me locked out of my account, she hasn’t scammed me out of any money. She hasn’t taken anything from me. She simply had the misfortune of pissing me off a year and a half ago when she did all of the above to a friend of mine. I offered to tell my friend’s story at the time since she was attempting to deal with this woman through her attorney to get her money back. I’ve kept the post updated for the hundreds of other bloggers out there that she’s scammed. But, like I said.

It’s not my fight.

So in a way, I guess she’s won. I won’t be posting anything more about her on social media. Once I get access back to my account, I’ll be deleting anything remaining that I’ve posted about her. She’s not worth my time or energy, and I won’t jeopardize my family, my passions, for someone worth so little. That should make her happy.

I can sleep at night; however, because I know that I did nothing but share the truth. That I didn’t scam hundreds of people out of almost $250,000 over the course of a few years. So yeah, there’s that. Just remember that when all is said and done, you need to be able to look your God in the eye one day and be held accountable for all the deeds during your lifetime.

Karma is a total beotch.