Have you ever been to jail? I mean the Facebook jail! If no, consider yourself lucky as there are many who are suffering from Facebook jail and don’t know a way out. Even if you have not faced such a situation but you should know what is Facebook jail and how to avoid it.
In this guide, I will answer all the knotty questions about Facebook jail.
What is Facebook Jail?
To laymanize, Facebook jail is a sort of punishment by Facebook when it disables some features of your account such as the ability to post content, send friend requests, like and share others’ posts, send messages and similar other features or blocks the account completely
What Can Get You in Facebook Jail?
Many situations can be held responsible for putting you in the virtual jail. Let me begin with my story, I will keep it simple and short just to show you the real picture.
A few weeks ago when I was just trying to post a picture on my Facebook account, it failed. After trying for the second failed attempt and thinking it off as a network issue or a minor Facebook glitch, I left it for the next day.
When I failed again the next day, I went ahead to find out why. An alarming message saying that I have violated the community guidelines popped up. So I recalled all the activities I have been doing on Facebook for the last few days and none of them looked suspicious to me.
The message that popped up was something like this,
“You can’t post right now.
If you have used Facebook in an unusual way, even if you didn’t mean to. You can post again in 7 hours”.
I was relaxed looking at the 7 hours limit but perplexed about the situation I was in. On investigating further, I realized,
Not only posting frequently, there are several other things that can put you in Facebook Jail
Reason 1- Misinformation
Facebook can put you in jail for spreading misinformation such as spreading fake news related to politics, about any disease, medicine and so on can get you banned.
Spreading fake information is a big no-no on any social media platform including Facebook; any group, pages or person found involved in any such activities can be put in virtual jail.
Reason 2- Spam
If you are acting like a spammer, this can land you in Facebook Jail. You may not be intentionally behaving like a spammer or doing spam activities, but if you are frequently posting on Facebook, copy-pasting the same things everywhere, posting in FB groups quickly are some of the reasons for facing Facebook Jail. So, better to create a Facebook Business page if you want to promote something.
Reason 3- Racism
It was due to an incident that happened a short time back that Facebook’s sponsors walked out as they felt Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg prioritized hate for profit and it costed Facebook a loss of billions of dollars in advertising revenue. That is why, Facebook has got serious about banning inappropriate, hateful content that promotes some sort of racism.
Reason 4- Abusive Behaviour
another reason for facing Facebook Jail in getting involved in inflammatory or abusive behavior. Using foul language or cuss words can get you banned from Facebook; even using words like idiot or stupid are enough to restrict you from certain activities on FB.
And breaking any other Facebook rule will leave you doomed.
How Long Does Facebook Jail Last?
It depends on the severity of the rule you have broken for how long Facebook will keep you blocked from doing any activities.
So Facebook Jail may be temporary or you may face a disabled Facebook account.
How to Know If You have Landed in Facebook Jail?
Those who have heard about the term before; they automatically realize they are in Facebook Jail but for some, this could be their first experience. Moreover, Facebook always notifies you when they do this but still if you haven’t been notified, here are the possible scenarios:
- You are not able to post on your timeline, page or any groups.
- You are not able to comment anywhere on the social network.
- You cannot like someone’s posts or pictures.
- You have been blocked from accessing your account or page.
So if any of the above incidents is happening or if you are not able to use all the features of Facebook, you have been jailed.
Apart from that, to know what violations you have done to deserve Facebook Jail or to see the notification that you are out of Facebook Jail, here is what you need to do:
- Log in to your Facebook account
- Click on the drop-down menu given in the top-right corner and click on ‘Settings and Privacy’
3. Again, click on ‘Settings’
4. Scroll down on the left and click on ‘Support Inbox’
5. Click on ‘Your violations’ to see all the violations you have done and there you will also see when your Facebook jail will get over.
How to Avoid Facebook Jail or Getting Blocked by Facebook?
If you haven’t faced a situation like Facebook Jail, don’t think you will never. You may not realize when you are walking on the way to jail. Some things are never acceptable on most of the social media platforms including Facebook.
Let’s read what you have to avoid doing on Facebook to not get into trouble.
Don’t Go Crazy Posting
You should not post or share the same content in multiple groups at the same time. Between every post, it is better to leave sometime. Facebook is always on the hunt for spammers and for whatever reasons if you will post identical content within less time span, you will end up getting blocked from posting on Facebook.
Even if you are involved in business promotion activities, experts say that 5-6 posts per day are enough to increase your reach and engagement
In case, you have an urgency to post so that you don’t forget it later, you can schedule your post in advance. There are multiple apps available that let you publish content on your account in advance.
Always remember the longer the time gap, the lesser the chances of your trip to FB jail.
Avoid Anonymity and Keep it Personal
Knowing who you add is one simple rule to avoid this virtual jail. Whosoever you are adding to your friend list, make sure you know each other.
Adding unknown people to your account is considered as spam and affects your image as well.
Facebook always keep a note of how many users don’t accept your friend or group requests. This can mark you as a spammer by those who don’t know you and why you want to add them.
Keeping your Facebook account based on honesty and real links will always keep you on the safer side.
Be Careful with Adding and Tagging
It is related to the previous one and implies that you cannot go on adding people to groups without their consent. Moreover, posting on FB pages with non-personal profiles carries the risk of being reported as spam.
You need to be extra careful while tagging people in pictures or posts as well. Don’t directly tag people in images if they are not in them. Still, if you want to mention someone, you can do that in the comments section.
Would you like to be tagged in a photo you have nothing to do with? So think before tagging.
Post Original Content
One of the most important strategies to stay out of Facebook jail, posting original content will not only help your profile look unique, but it will also help in building trust among other users.
Avoid using spam images from Google’s search results as it already has the spam mark and if you will use it for your Facebook account, it will bring along all the complaints it already has. The images you use must be free to use and share for commercial purposes.
So instead of copying images or texts, try to keep it original and stay safe from getting temporarily blocked on Facebook.
Don’t act like a spammer
Apart from sending too many friend requests or tagging people unnecessarily, many activities are considered spam, and to prevent your Facebook account from getting closed permanently, you should avoid getting involved into such activities that have been listed here:
- Sending too many messages or private messages for promotional reasons is considered unethical. There is an average message usage limit for each user and you will be marked as a spammer if you cross that.
- You cannot promote your business on other’s business pages or profiles. I know you want to promote your business and for that, you want to reach more audience but this is not the right way to do it.
- Posting frequently on groups can also be the reason for your account getting blocked. So if some groups are not allowing you to post, you shouldn’t post there at all.
- You cannot impersonate someone else on Facebook as this is again unethical. Facebook always detects all such fake accounts and disable them automatically. In this case, you will not be jailed, they will permanently block your account.
Beware of Saboteurs
Every time you cannot be responsible for putting yourself in FB jail. There are people who lay the path for you. Marking someone as spam is quite easy on Facebook as you don’t have to face the circumstances, but the other person will.
So any post you make on Facebook can be attacked by trolls. In case you notice such behavior by anyone on your page or account, the best thing you can do is to block or report them. If they will not see what you post, they will not attack them.
One Account for One Person
You can only have one account no matter what. Even if you need one for your business, you can create a Facebook Business Page. Moreover, if you have multiple businesses to promote, you can create multiple business pages.
The Facebook algorithm has been set in such a way that the links between two accounts are explored by the bots. If they find out the link between two of your accounts, you will be in a problem.
Facebook will not let you post on any of your accounts that are inter-related and you may be permanently blocked from accessing your accounts.
Don’t Show Yourself as a Spam-bot
Spam-bot is a term that refers to automated programs that mimic human behavior on social networks. To avoid getting this tag, you need to have control over your speed of commenting or liking posts on Facebook. When FB marks you as spam, you will not be allowed to like or post comments on the social network for a certain period. This is also known as ‘Facebook Time Out’ or ‘Facebook Jail’ when you are stopped from doing certain activities.
Provide Genuine Information
The users can find out about you by simply looking at the ‘About’ section and this will make it convenient for them to start interacting with you. Also, an eye-catching ‘About’ section may get more followers to your page.
How to Get Out of Facebook Jail?
You have reached here it means you are facing the unfortunate situation. There are ways to get out of it. Also, Facebook notifies when you will be able to use the blocked feature or account again.
1. Wait and Do Nothing-
This should be your first step when you get banned or jailed on Facebook. If you have done a minor violation and have been restricted from using certain features, wait for 24 hours as in most of the cases, Facebook automatically lifts the ban after a day; so just let the time pass and do nothing.
2. Submit an Appeal-
When you land into Facebook jail, you receive a notification about the same and how can you fix it. So, if you are given a chance to submit an appeal for the ban to get it removed, do it as this can get you out of the virtual jail in very less time. Not all the violators get the option to file an appeal except when Facebook thinks if it was a mistake.
3. Create a New Account-
This is the last option when nothing else works. For severe violations, Facebook deletes or removes the account forever, hence you can only create a new FB account under such unfortunate situation.
In a nutshell, Facebook Jail should be taken seriously as it can result in losing permanent access to your account. You just need to make sure you don’t indulge in any of the suspicious, spam, unethical or illegal activities.
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Author:
Freddie George
Education
Categories: How to
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
