How to Get Unbanned from Facebook

Facebook is a part of everyday life for millions of people. But it is easy to get confused by Facebook terms of use, and most of us will break Facebook rules from time to time. When we do, it helps to know how to get unbanned from Facebook.

So, if we are banned by Facebook, we need to know how to get unbanned from facebook when we are. It is reasonable to expect a little empathy, followed by an explanation and understanding in the form of a friendly rebuke, if we unintentionally violate Facebook terms of use. But it doesn’t usually happen that way.

Why the Heavy-handed Approach to an Accidental Infringement?

I was disappointed at the impersonal and heavy-handed approach to a purely accidental infringement on my part. I was handed an initial 7-day sentence. A block. It was followed a few days later with another 14-day block. I don’t know the reason for the second 14 days. The blocks were about sending friend requests. I invited some of a Facebook’s friend’s friends, whom I didn’t know, but were writers like me.

Like me you didn’t understand why you were banned by Facebook. Facebook terms of use were unambiguous. But they still banned you. Here is how to get unbanned from facebook. Take everything thrown at you. Apologise, as you did not mean to violate Facebook terms of use. Serve your ban and wait.

The Unfriendly Face and Power of Facebook

80% accepted my invitation without hesitation before I got the ban. So clearly they were happy to befriend me. That did not exonerate me from my misdemeanour. But I thought it was rather interesting that Facebook knew me so well they took it upon themselves to be the arbiter of who I could befriend. Tongue-in-cheek maybe, but nevertheless worth thinking about the power we have bestowed upon a young tycoon. And we all know what absolute power can do.

Facebook told me, in a generic communique, that I had violated Facebook terms of use, which, by then, I had worked out.

They told me I was only allowed to invite people I knew, like friends and family. If I didn’t stop inviting people who didn’t know me I would be banned by Facebook.

That was when I wished I had a Facebook social media manager. I didn’t fancy being banished to Devil’s Island penal colony.

Rules for Adding Friends on Your Facebook Account

The message was stark and clear. They had no empathy for the likes of dim-witted folk like me. I was not invited to plead my case, and I

• • was guilty as charged.

• • had no defence.

• • didn’t know the Facebook rules for adding friends on Facebook.

• • didn’t read Facebook terms of use in the small print.

Being admonished, unceremoniously, like a naughty schoolboy in the following headliners was demeaning:

• • ‘You’re blocked from sending friend requests for 7 days’

• • ‘Cancel pending friend requests’

• • ‘Don’t send friend requests to people who don’t know you’.

• • ‘You’re blocked from sending friend requests for 14 days’

I had no excuse for breaking Facebook terms of use. But I had a reason.

I couldn’t find the RULES and Facebook did not point me to them.

So, I tried to understand the rationale and the contradiction between TERMS and PRINCIPLES.

Check the Rules and Other Users to Avoid Facebook Bans 

In the physical (as opposed to cyber) world none of us would ever know anybody or have any friends, other than immediate family, if we didn’t communicate with other people who were not known to us.

Is that not how we get to know people who may become friends? It is impossible to know someone without first not knowing them.

So I checked other users out only to find that there were many many people on Facebook with thousands of friends who, according to Facebook’s instructions to me, they were

obliged to know as family, friends or acquaintances. 

Then I scoured Facebook Principles and 

I couldn’t find any reference to this obligation whatsoever.

Surely the mighty Facebook couldn’t be wrong. I must have been be mistaken.

My brain was whirring. I could not see how anyone could physically know as many as 2500 to 5000 people, many of which probably lived in parts of the world the member had never visited.

So how did they acquire these friends? Of course, if I had had a Facebook social media manager, he would have known all this and taken care of it.

Rules for my Facebook Friends

Are there rules for the people I invite or are we all breaking Facebook terms of use?

Let me turn it around for a moment. Soon after you start using Facebook you will probably exhaust your tiny list of friends who will be thrilled you have joined them on the giant Social Media platform. After that, 99% of the people who invite you on Facebook won’t know you from a bar of soap and you won’t have a clue who they are either.

It was no wonder Facebook terms of use confused me.

Should the others be be blocked as I was? Or was I singled out for some reason? If we can only invite people we know we would probably be talking to ourselves most of the time. Most of my ‘friends’ (in the real sense of the word) or people I know, don’t use Facebook.

Now I am a marked man. I will never be able to invite anyone to be a friend again. There isn’t anyone left who knows me who is on Facebook that I am aware of. I’ll just have to revert to that prehistoric device called the telephone or breed a flock of carrier pigeons.

How sad; I was really enjoying learning all about this wonderful Social Media thingy.

OK. That’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it does reflect my mood at the time.

So What is Facebook Really About?

Most of us know Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and some college mates at Harvard University in 2004. It was designed to help students communicate with each other on campus. But it moved on from there and developed into a powerful social and business network.

Barack Obama hired Zuckerberg for the 2008 presidential election, and he has millions of ‘Friends’. How did that happen. How did he get them without breaking Facebook terms of use?

What am I misunderstanding here? I thought Facebook was for connecting with people you know and also, with people you don’t know? Thereby adding other users as Facebook friends to widen your social circle.

From talking to others, it seems that is correct, so there must be some invisible rules and a purpose to Facebook I missed. Therefore, I was guilty.

Relevant Extracts from Facebook Account Principles 

The following extracts indicate that either the enforcers are confused by Facebook terms of use and don’t understand them or I need to rethink my understanding of English.

Freedom to Share and Connect

People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium and any format, and

have the right to connect online with ANYONE – any person, organization or service – as long as they both consent to the connection.

That couldn’t be clearer, could it?

Ownership and Control of Information

People should own their information. They should have the FREEDOM to share it with ANYONE they want and take it with them anywhere they want, including removing it from the Facebook Service. People should have the FREEDOM to decide with whom they will share their information and to set privacy controls to protect those choices. Those controls, however, are not capable of limiting how those who have received information may use it, particularly outside the Facebook Service.

Again – that is crystal clear to me.

Social Value

People should have the FREEDOM to build trust and reputation through their identity and connections, and should not have their presence on the Facebook Service removed for reasons other than those described in FACEBOOK’S STATEMENT OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

Well. How about that?

Being confused by Facebook terms of use seemed to be perfectly justifiable.

Final Thoughts

I agree wholeheartedly with these principles, which is a good enough reason to join Facebook.

You will notice there are no extracts relating to my transgression. That is because I cannot find anything in the documents.

Furthermore, these wholesome principles contradicted the Facebook communiques, leaving me even more confused.

I did not write again for fear of getting another generic response or harder slap on the wrist.

How to Beat a Facebook Ban

Even if you don’t think Facebook is right. Here is how to beat the ban, if you want to be re-admitted to the club.

Don’t argue. Accept everything they throw at you. Apologise profusely and say you had no intention of violating Facebook terms of use. (After all it’s the truth). Eat humble pie and serve your ban with dignity. Keep your fingers crossed and wait.

While I served my ban, I wrote a post about the dangers of mobile devices which you should read, especially if Facebook scares you.

If you have any words of wisdom or encouragement to improve my relationship marketing and grow my shrinking friends’ list on Facebook, please feel free to contact me. ‎

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Updated April 2024