Meta has not responded to a request for comment from CBC News.<\/p>\n
It comes at a time when companies are increasingly adopting AI in customer service, despite data showing customers aren\u2019t on board.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790856011_424_default.jpg\")
When Ault attempted to appeal her account deletion, she was only able to interface with AI chatbots, which she says didn’t provide her with any additional information or a pathway to plead her case. (Graeme Roy\/The Canadian Press)Lack of empathy frustrating to customers<\/p>\n
A global survey<\/a> released earlier this year of more than 34,000 customers, service representatives and executives found that half of customers surveyed reported a lack of empathy as their biggest frustration with AI customer service. <\/p>\n And while 87 per cent of customers ranked phone calls as a preferred customer service channel, the survey found only seven per cent of executives plan to prioritize them. The research, commissioned by software company ServiceNow in partnership with research firm ThoughtLab, included 1,350 customers and 195 executives in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ela Veresiu, associate professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University, explained that companies are buying into AI en masse despite the backlash because of the promise of efficiency and lower costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a lot cheaper to have an AI that responds to customer service queries than to hire people that can potentially respond, or be available to respond, 24\/7,\u201d she told CBC News.\u00a0<\/p>\n But while an AI chatbot is able to direct customers to existing information, such as a business\u2019s hours of operation, they can\u2019t handle complex \u201cwhy\u201d questions, she said, and it can create huge problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n If a company has competitors, customers frustrated with poor AI rollout can take their business elsewhere, potentially leading businesses to change strategies. But for singularly massive social media companies like Meta, which offer unique services, there\u2019s no business incentive to change their policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCustomers may grumble and be dissatisfied by the overreliance of AI and customer service, but ultimately, they have no choice in the marketplace,\u201d Veresiu explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s people\u2019s lifelines\u2019<\/p>\n Ault started her Facebook account in 2006, the first year it was public. After she received the news that her Instagram, Facebook and even a linked Instagram for her dog had all been deactivated, Ault says she stayed up for the next 26 hours straight, desperately trying to appeal the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n Screenshots she shared with CBC News stated that her accounts were disabled because her Facebook \u201cdoesn\u2019t follow our rules,\u201d but Ault said she was never told what rules her Facebook allegedly broke.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ault believes her Facebook had been recently hacked, and that this may have caused her accounts to be flagged. But within minutes of pressing the appeal button, she was told her case was closed and she would not be permitted to appeal again, without giving her the opportunity to plead her case.\u00a0<\/p>\n She created a backup Instagram account and paid for Meta Verification under the impression that it would allow her to reach a human support agent. Meta\u2019s Verification program has various paid tiers with perks such as enhanced support. Standard, the option Ault went for, costs $14.99 US (roughly $21 Cdn).\u00a0<\/p>\n But the enhanced support she received was simply another AI chatbot, which swiftly told her the ticket was being closed, and that she had reached her limit of support interactions.<\/p>\n CBC News has reached out to Meta, but the company has not responded to questions about Ault\u2019s account and whether access to a human customer service agent \u2014 once a staple of all customer service interactions \u2014 is now only accessible at a high monthly cost. Of Meta\u2019s verification tiers, only Premium and Max, which have a monthly fee of $150 US and $500 US respectively, mention the ability to \u201crequest a call from an agent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt, to me, feels like Meta is trying to cut corners by not paying a human, when they’re worth billions and billions of dollars,\u201d Ault said. \u201cAnd it feels almost sick to me that they just think, like, ‘We can just shut these people’s accounts down, they can’t get through to us and talk to us,’ and it’s people’s lifelines. It’s people’s memories. It’s people’s everything.”<\/p>\n She added that since she used social media to provide marketing to clients for her side business, she\u2019s now losing out on those financial opportunities and connections.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jon Festinger, a lecturer at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said Canadians may have legal recourse to challenge account deletion in court by arguing damages that demand a remedy, particularly if they used their social media for business purposes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt should be relatively easy to prove the damages, at least the reputational damage, and perhaps more,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n WATCH | Restaurant owner had Meta accounts suddenly deleted in 2025: Local restaurant faces setback after Meta wrongfully shut down their social media accounts<\/p>\n Laurie Viau Gillard was incorrectly flagged for ‘violating community standards,’ which led to Meta temporarily shutting down their Instagram and Facebook accounts. They\u2019ve since been reinstated, but with no clear explanation from Meta.<\/p>\n Canadian courts have made some steps toward dealing with AI chatbots \u2014 Air Canada was found liable for its chatbot\u2019s hallucinated advice to a customer in 2024<\/a>, for instance \u2014 but there are still gaps in Canadian consumer law when it comes to customer rights and AI, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regulation needed now, experts say<\/p>\n That\u2019s where experts believe regulation should come in.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Any technical solution makes mistakes,” Shion Guha, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and director of the Human-Centered Data Science Lab, told CBC News.\u00a0“What it’s really about is that people lack a way to get the mistake fixed.”<\/p>\n Companies must be required to provide a clear pathway to a human agent and a fair appeals process, especially if automated systems are being used to moderate social media, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally in every other facet of our life, if we are appealing … a potentially unfair decision, we reach a human being,\u201d he added, giving the example of speeding tickets and tax appeals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople expect that that will transpose to private social media platforms, and it doesn’t because \u2026 they’re not required to, because there’s no regulatory framework in place for that.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790856012_755_default.jpg\")
A screenshot shared by Ault shows the message she was given when she tried to continue engaging with the AI help chatbot. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790856012_918_default.jpg\")
A screenshot taken by Ault shows the screen she was shown when she tried to access her Instagram account. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790856013_445_default.jpg\")
Ault said she opened her Facebook account in 2006, meaning she’s now lost access to 20 years of digital memories. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790856015_846_default.jpg\")
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