A Georgia attorney has won a lawsuit against Facebook after the big tech giant shut down his account and banned him off the platform, alleging that he had violated its standards on child sexual exploitation.
Jason Crawford in Hamilton, Georgia, told Fox 5 Atlanta that he had logged on to Facebook in August 2022 only to find that he was banned, seeing the brief message on the violation of standards before it disappeared.
“I woke up one Sunday morning, I tapped on my Facebook icon, and I was locked out,” he said. “They made it clear I was banned. It just gave me the briefest snapshot of saying that I had violated their standards on child sexual exploitation. And then it went away.”
Crawford said he couldn’t contact a human on the platform to resolve the situation, only an automated response system that provided no solutions.
“What I learned is the way that you submit your appeal is through your own account, but if you don’t have an account, you’ve got no way of submitting it,” he said. “It’s like a dog chasing its tail.”
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Crawford had received violations before over political comments he had made; however, this was the first time his account had been restricted.
Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, employs over 80,000 people.
“I just think it’s bad business practices; I think it’s a crappy way to treat people,” Crawford said. “At least tell me what I did wrong.”
Crawford promptly filed the lawsuit days later, stating in the lawsuit that Facebook was negligent and violated its own rules in suspending Crawford’s account.
“Defendant suspended Plaintiff’s account for allegedly violating Facebook’s community standards in a way that suggests criminal activity on the part of the Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff engaged in no such activity, in violation of Facebook’s community standards or otherwise.”
Crawford said he was unsure if his account had been hacked or whether Facebook’s algorithms had erred.
“Facebook’s rules allow a user to appeal such a decision, but Plaintiff has been shut out of the system completely by Facebook, such that Plaintiff is unable to even learn the alleged violation and unable to follow Facebook’s purported appeals process, all in violation of Facebook’s own rules,” the lawsuit states.
‘It Was as if I Didn’t Exist’
Crawford said Facebook’s negligence caused harm in that his account contained important content such as photographs, writings, and vital communication channels.
“I had, I don’t even know how you quantify it, pictures, videos, posts that you know come up as memories that I like to look at from time to time,” Crawford said. “You know, all that kind of stuff that I wasn’t willing to let a bunch of bullies take away from me for no reason.”
After filing the lawsuit, Crawford said Facebook failed to respond.
“It was as if I didn’t exist, and Facebook was operated by a bunch of ghosts or something,” Crawford said.
Because the lawsuit was ignored, by default, he won, with a judge ordering that Meta pay him $50,000.
“I felt a little bit vindicated, and they activated my account again,” Crawford said.
Crawford said he was contacted by a Facebook attorney who informed him that his account had been hacked. His profile has since been restored.
‘It Feels Like a Poke in the Eye’
Crawford said he wasn’t taking legal action for the money but to hold Facebook accountable.
“Every step of the way, Facebook is choosing not to do the right thing,” Crawford said.
Meta has yet to pay the $50,000, Crawford said.
“It feels like a poke in the eye, and it feels like they’re continuing to poke in the eye. Poke the local court system in the eye. Poke me in the eye. Poke other users in the eye, and it’s time that they at least respect our legal system,” he said.
The Epoch Times contacted Meta for comment.
