Anyone else got a ban from liking Facebook pages

Svenena

There have been loads of posts about this kind of issue - have a search. My understanding is that Facebook aren't banning you because they think you're spamming by liking and sharing so much, it's because this isn't the behaviour of a 'typical' facebook user, and they want to clamp down on non-legitimate users. Many people set up a second account (which is against their T & Cs) and use it in the way you have described. They're probably thinking your account looks like a second account, especially if someone in the house has an account which looks more 'real'. They often shut down these second accounts, and often the main accounts of those people who are breaching the T & Cs too (which is probably why your family members have been affected - based on IP address as someone said above, they may think your account is a second one belonging to one of them).

My theory is they have some kind of automatic way of checking for legitimate-type use - eg do you have friends on facebook who are also friends with each other, who have the same links as you (eg local area, employers, all this kind of thing creates facebook networks as most people provide this info)? Are you posting your own status updates which you have written, and aren't just shares? Do you like and comment on friends post/photos/etc, or only those of companies?

Doing some of the above will make it look like you are using a real facebook account, and should mean you're less at risk of it being shut down/receiving bans.

In terms of being worried about spamming other people, things that you see which companies have posted aren't visible to your friends pages. They will only see the things that YOU have posted (eg shares, likes, comments). You can choose who views these things each time you post, and set defaults for them as well.

Your friends can also control what they see about you, if they want to see less than you have given them access to. So it's perfectly possible to enter comps without spamming real friends (although I personally don't enter 'like and shared' competitions as they are against FB T & Cs; I only enter ones with apps or which just require a like).

Maybe when you're back up and running have a think about how you can use it in such a way that facebook don't think it looks 'dodgy'. If you don't want to add real friends, add some people from the thread on here, and interact with them a bit. Post the occasional status of your own. You don't need to link your real name on facebook with your MSE name in anyway, so no need to give up your anonymity.

HTH :T

pompeypaul25

I got handed a 30 day ban in the middle of December and I don't know why, thankfully I could still enter the advents as I had liked already.

As Sugarbabe61 points out
"The promoters are at fault here as they are not complying with FB rules by running their comps on a "like and share" basis instead of using an app."

True but in most cases you have to like the page before you can access the app?
I think what triggered my ban was that my sister logged me out of FB and logged in on her own account on my PC, when I logged back in I got the ban notice.

I think the way facebook do this is disgraceful. No reason given as to why the ban and no way to contact them to appeal

Enigmatic_Me

pompeypaul25 wrote: »

As Sugarbabe61 points out
"The promoters are at fault here as they are not complying with FB rules by running their comps on a "like and share" basis instead of using an app."

True but in most cases you have to like the page before you can access the app?

There is a difference in just liking a page though than having to like, share, tag a photograph. By just liking a page I cannot see any problem with that whatsoever. That will only show in all your friends "ticker" and not on their wall. What I do have a problem with is promoters requiring you to "like, share or tag" a photo as that is when it spams all your friends walls.

I do understand also there is a way round it as Svenena points out above. I have all my FB competition friends grouped in a "competition" category. I have unsubscribed to all their posts so nothing appears now on my main wall. The downside of that is I miss out on any chat ie if they are discussing prizes etc, unless I select to go and view all posts under my "competitions" category. However, doing that it is just full of millions of likes and shares and as I said above seeing the same photo liked and shared more than 10 or so times gets very boring indeed.

pompeypaul25

@Sugarbabe61 I totally agree.
What I meant is from a personal perspective I am now banned from liking anything so effectively banned from entering any new comps even those that are apps.
I also cannot send messages and I won a suitcase but was unable to PM my details to the promoters via facebook as they requested so had to ask them to post an email address I could reply to instead.

Treacle1983

Hi Guys,

Sandy here (editor for competitionclub)

As my day job is literally to find fb and twitter competitions and run their site I come across this all the time - and hope admin won't mind if I post up some advice.

The reason for people receiving these bans is because their accounts and activity on their accounts is being picked up by facebook robots that look out for spammers.

You have to think from facebooks point of view about what makes you appear as a spammer and change the way you do things.

Here are some tips:

1) only use 1 facebook account for everything - don't have seperate accounts for comping/personal stuff as it's actually against fb rules and you could end up being banned entirely from fb.

2) use your real name and real details when signing up. It is actually in fb rules and if they have to validate your account you'd have a hard time prooving you are 'lucky bunny mse ' etc..

3) make sure that facebook have your mobile number so if you need to validate your account it is easy to do so - you can make your privacy settings say 'only you' on the phone details so no-one else will see it.

4) use a real photo, add profile content - if you think about spammers they normally don't use real photos it's pets or objects or images from google, so try to put a real photo of yourself even if it's you in a silly pose or the back of your head etc.. Add general information about yourself to your profile - but nothing that is too sensitive - for example put your nearest city as your location - not your town and don't put your job/workplace etc..

5) in between comping - add plenty of normal content - chat to people, play some games, post up a few random photos (dog, new sofa, what you've just eaten etc..)

Aim to make your homepage look a normal persons - not just tagged photos and shared competition posts. Make sure that when you glimpse at your homepage for 30 seconds or so that it looks non-comping and has normal content.

I hope this isn't too waffly and I hope it helps.

Above all - if you get a ban - take notice and make changes to ensure it doesn't happen again - otherwise you'll pretty much end up with constant bans.

Luckyone

Thank You

1, I only have one account
2, I have used my real name & details
3, My mobile number is on there
4, I will do this now Thank You
5, I will do this now Thank You

Luckyone xxx

robbies_gal

ive had an fb account for ages got all my friends on there and comp aswell i havent had any probs prob coz i use it for both as people say its not a comping site so be prepared to be banned alot of u use it just for that

Luckyone

The site must of got a lot stricter because I've been comping for three years, opened a facebook account two years ago & have only just started to be banned

Guess I was just lucky before then

Luckyone xxx

OneYorkshireLass

I only use my FB account for comping (and don't have another one), don't use it that much since I got into Twitter (much easier to use!).
I post photos regularly and I think that could be why I've escaped a banning ... so far ... touch wood an' all that ...

sheenaread

Good Afternoon

I to have been banned from Facebook on a couple of occassions now. I enter a lot of competitions and towards the end of last year I found a way to enter lots more on Facebook. I like the pages for the companies I was entering competitions for, made sure my comments were all unique and not just "shared and liked" as some people are putting. Did this for a few days then got banned for 30 days. I contacted Facebook and asked them to explain why I'd been banned and I could not get a personal response. I then deleted that Facebook account and created a new one. Again I was ok for a few days and then banned again for 30 days on my new account. So I waited until the 30 days were up, not using Facebook at all during the 30 day period. I tried entering competitions again and managed to be on there for about 10 minutes before being banned again for 30 days.
I only have a Facebook account to enter competitions as I guard my privacy too much and I've seen from a professional angle (not telling what I do for a living) what a mess it makes of peoples lives. Besides I'm not interested when someone had a cup of tea or went to the toilet. My real life is a lot more interesting than that.

Not sure what to do now. If I close my current Facebook acount and try and set up another the same thing will happen again. Not having any problems on Twitter, again in my case only used for entering competitions and the same reason as Facebook I'm not interested in the world knowing my personal habits.