LOCKED OUT OF MY OWN BUSINESS:

Facebook Deactivated My Personal Account—and Took My Livelihood With It!

On October 18th at exactly 9:00 AM EST, my business lifeline snapped.

I logged into my personal Facebook account—the hub for all my business accounts and community pages—and a screen popped up with two dreaded words: "Account Deactivated."

No explanation. No warning. No way to appeal. The single blue link below the message led only to a dead-end "connection lost" error.

Immediate panic set in. This wasn’t just about personal photos; it was the entire foundation of my small business. My Facebook Business Pages (Mountainwood Cottages and Claudia’s Caboose), my tourism community page, and my local neighborhood group were all suddenly inaccessible. Eight years of building the Cottage’s presence, guest photos, renovation diaries, posts, reels, and videos—GONE. Even my associated Instagram account was simultaneously closed!

Why Me? A Black Box Ban

Facebook offered no warning, no suspension, and no email detailing why I was flagged and banned. Hours of frantic internet searching offered only useless, non-working solutions.

Was it AI? Was it bots reporting honest users? Was it politically motivated? What heinous, uncommunicated offense resulted in the destruction of my personal profile, my business pages, my ad accounts, my Business Manager Suite, and all my past guest interactions?

I can’t even respond to a guest inquiry, damaging my brand's reputation with every minute that passes.

The Myth of Safeguards

I followed all the advice. They tell you to "have an alternate admin who can run your pages if this happens." I DID!

I set up another personal profile for this exact purpose. It was useless. I still couldn’t access the Business Manager.

To make matters worse, all my accounts required "post approval," and I never "post approved" my alternate profile. Now, I can’t even comment on my own pages to let followers know what has happened!

What about all the offline marketing tied to these pages? My business cards, brochures, the magazine put out by the Tourism Bureau, my official listings with Lookout Mountain Alabama and the state tourism site... all point to dead, inaccessible links.

It Gets Worse: The IP Address Scarlet Letter

Facebook’s draconian policies don't just lock you out—they punish you for trying to rebuild.

• You cannot set up a new account using the same pages or profile names.

• I can't even set up a new Instagram account.

My husband tried to create a new Facebook account so I could administer it and start fresh. He was denied! Because he applied for an account from our home, using the same IP address as my deactivated accounts, he is now "tainted," branded an internet criminal by association.

The complete lack of human support results in an endless, agonizing loop of no resolution. No one to appeal to. No one to speak with. No one to chat with. No email to send. Facebook has erected a wall of silence around its automated destruction.

The Systemic Failure

My frustration, confusion, and disbelief emphasize a crucial point: The critical loss of professional assets highlights the urgent need for change in Facebook's policies.

This industry, which can destroy your livelihood in a split second without human oversight, operates without regulation. They don’t care. They have billions of accounts, and a single small business is less than a statistical blip.

The Lessons Learned (The Hard Way)

In the sleepless hours spent searching for a solution, these two painful lessons became clear:

Lesson	Advice
1. The Necessity of Backup Admins	Always have a trusted, separate personal profile (a partner, employee, or friend) listed as a backup administrator on your main business page and your Business Manager. This is the single most important defense.
2. Diversify Your Platform	Never, ever rely on a single platform. Actively build an audience on channels you fully control, like an Email List, your dedicated blog, and other social channels (Google Business Profile, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.).

What’s Next for Mountainwood Cottages

I will continue to try and find a way to appeal and re-activate my accounts. Without that, I cannot open new business pages under my control.

In the meantime, I am pivoting:

• I am converting the alternate Facebook profile I had into a temporary communication hub for the Cottage and the Caboose.

• I will focus more heavily on our blog for specials and cancelled dates. (So check often)

• My Google Business Pages for both Mountainwood Cottages and Claudia's Caboose and other platforms will become our primary sources of posts and updates.

  
  

Final Statement: Facebook's automated deactivation process is a disproportionate and dangerous risk for small businesses that rely on the platform. It's time for greater accountability.

***Have you been through this? Share your story in the comments below!

"Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” —Michael Jordan