Without a retail store or other means of interacting with potential customers, Mr Azad essentially lost his livelihood.<\/p>\n
“Starting a business is exceptionally difficult, and to see it all disappear overnight is an even bigger blow and shock,” he said.<\/p>\n
“A jewellery business is all about trust, and to see years of work just crumble for no clear reason or fault of your own is devastating.”<\/p>\n
Instagram said Mr Azad breached Meta’s standards on child exploitation, abuse and nudity<\/a>, but it did not say which post or actions breached the platform’s rules.<\/p>\n “It’s a very serious issue and I haven’t done anything as such,” he said. “I still don’t know what exactly happened \u2026 It’s embarrassing and it’s insulting.”<\/p>\n Instagram did not say which post or actions breached the platform’s rules.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n Mr Azad is one of dozens of Australian users to have contacted the ABC to say they were falsely accused of breaching Meta’s standards \u2014 including its child abuse rules.<\/p>\n Many say their businesses were up-ended<\/a> and their personal lives<\/a> were deeply affected, but there is no functional way of appealing the account bans because users are directed to automated processing systems.<\/p>\n The Australian government has responded by saying it has taken steps to address the way major digital providers operating in Australia handle internal disputes.<\/p>\n Developing an industry code<\/p>\n The ABC understands that the Australian government wrote to the Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI) and major digital platform providers operating in Australia in February 2024.<\/p>\n It requested a voluntary internal dispute resolution (IDR) code to help users raise issues and get better outcomes, including with regard to the loss of their online accounts.<\/p>\n An IDR code is a set of guidelines \u2014 voluntarily agreed to by industry members \u2014 for handling complaints.<\/p>\n “The Australian Government is working with the Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI) and major digital platform providers operating in Australia on a voluntary internal dispute resolution code to help users raise issues and get better outcomes, including loss of accounts,” a government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n It is understood that Australia’s digital industry association is in the process of finalising this code, and the government will monitor the outcomes of this process.<\/p>\n Meta wrongly deletes woman’s Instagram account<\/a><\/p>\n Tech giant Meta bans and then reinstates an Australian woman’s Instagram account, wrongly accusing her business page of posting child exploitation material.<\/p>\n In the meantime, banned users like Mr Azad feel helpless.<\/p>\n “What can I do? There’s nobody to speak to, there’s nobody to contact,” he said.<\/p>\n “This could happen to absolutely anyone, and there is no protection. Meta seems to be above the law.<\/p>\n “I don’t think it should be allowed for business pages to just be taken down like that.”<\/p>\n Users across the globe have also raised this issue, with nearly 37,000 people signing a petition<\/a> blaming Meta’s “broken AI enforcement systems” of wrongfully banning accounts.<\/p>\n They say the only way to speak to a human is to pay for Meta Verified<\/a>, and even then, many say the support team is unhelpful.<\/p>\n Desperate to speak to a customer representative, Mr Azad said he contacted Meta’s marketing department, but they stone-walled him.<\/p>\n “They simply said, ‘There’s nothing we can do, this is not our department, we are only in charge of advertising,'” he said.<\/p>\n “And when I asked who do I contact to explain my situation, they said, ‘Sorry, there is nothing we can do, we are only in advertising,’ and they don’t redirect you to anyone.<\/p>\n “The irony is, even though they are human beings, they speak to you in a loop like robots.”<\/p>\n Meta denies it’s a wider issue<\/p>\n Meta acknowledged in July that a “technical problem” had caused the wrongful suspensions of some Facebook groups, but it denied its platforms were more widely affected.<\/p>\n A spokesperson did not answer previous ABC questions about why it wrongly accused another Australian user<\/a> of violating its policies.<\/p>\n Within hours of the ABC contacting the company about the case, Meta reinstated<\/a> the banned account.<\/p>\n The ABC has contacted Meta again about Mr Azad’s case.<\/p>\n The tech giant has not commented on claims that Meta’s AI is to blame for unfairly banning people.<\/p>\n Meta says it uses technology and humans to enforce its community standards on its digital platforms.\u00a0 (Getty: Jonathan Raa\/NurPhoto)<\/p>\n Instagram states<\/a> AI is central to its “content review process,” and Meta has outlined how technology and humans<\/a> enforce its policies.<\/p>\n In July, Meta said it was taking “aggressive action”<\/a> on accounts breaking its rules.<\/p>\n It reported the removal of about 635,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts for sexualised images or comments related to children under 13.<\/p>\n Meta’s wide-ranging policy on child sexual exploitation has changed three times<\/a> since December 2024.<\/p>\n Mr Azad’s Instagram account was disabled on July 18, which coincides with one of the dates the company made amendments to its policy.<\/p>\n Meta has not said what impact, if any, these changes had on the cases the ABC has raised with it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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