An Australian business owner, Rochelle Marinato, found herself in a precarious situation after posting a seemingly innocuous video of three dogs peering out a window on her personal Instagram. The clip prompted Meta to suspend her account, citing a breach of “community guidelines surrounding child sexual exploitation, abuse, and nudity.” This alarming decision was reportedly the result of an artificial intelligence moderator mistakenly identifying the content as potentially harmful involving children.
Marinato, who operates a pilates equipment supply business, soon discovered that her business account was also disabled, linked to the suspension due to alleged guideline violations. Despite appealing the decision multiple times and sending over 22 emails to Meta, she received no assistance.
Initially hopeful, Marinato assumed the suspension would be resolved quickly upon receiving the first email from Meta. However, the subsequent notification about her business account raised her concerns significantly, leading her to file an appeal, which was again dismissed by AI moderation. This led to her business account being permanently disabled.
After weeks of frustration and extensive research into regaining her account, Marinato eventually turned to a third party for assistance, paying for their services to ensure the restoration of her account. Interestingly, she mentioned that her children found this service on TikTok, although she expressed concern that the provider’s account is no longer operational, hinting at the prevalence of such services in dealing with account recovery.
The fallout from this incident significantly impacted Marinato’s business, with revenue plummeting by 75% as a result of losing access to her social media. She noted that the inability to advertise effectively on Meta greatly hindered her operations, especially in the competitive fitness sector where social media presence is crucial.
Meta has been approached for comment regarding this matter, but there has yet to be a response. The incident serves as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of relying heavily on social media platforms for business, particularly when AI moderation can lead to such significant repercussions.