Summary
When Facebook jails an account, it usually restricts the account’s right to upload content or comment on content already shared by others. There are two forms of Facebook bans: Permanent Blocking and Temporary Blocking.
If you’re in Facebook Jail, it’s because you violated their Terms of Service. By taking the basic account formation steps and using Facebook regularly, you will escape Facebook prison.
Reading the support section, terms, conditions, and community guidelines is the best way to avoid Facebook prison.
Did you know that Facebook is still doing well as a premier social media platform despite the recent skid in its fourth-quarter stock value?
Facebook remains one great way to promote your venture, increase your reach, and engage with the community. But promoting in a famous site does not give you free rein to post just about anything; quite the opposite.
The site recently released community standards you must follow, and actions that will end you up in one of the more famous urban legends running around today: the famed/infamous Facebook Jail.
Every day I get tons of messages about Facebook blocking accounts without prior warning. In fact, most of the time users are clueless why it really happened when they believe no community guidelines were even breached.
But the fact is, being haphazard with your account could lead to repercussions, and you could even end up with your account closed for up to 21 days — all that effort and time down the drain.
Keeping in view your queries, in this guide.
I will outline what exactly is ‘Facebook Jail,’ and the tips you can follow to avoid getting ‘arrested’ by the Facebook police. At the end of this article, you will be able to know:
- What “Facebook Jail” is,
- How long it lasts,
- Tips to avoid getting blocked, and
- Why you were blocked,
So, let’s get started! Read on to know more about ‘Facebook Jail.”
What is Facebook Jail?
Facebook Jail refers to when Facebook punishes an account – usually through limiting an account’s ability to post content or comment on content already posted by others.
Several reasons are at work when the site bans you, but they all point to one thing: the account has violated Facebook laws, and has deemed the account punishable.
Content creators, advertisers, and business pages must avoid Facebook Jail because:
- However good of a content you have, it is useless if it cannot reach an audience,
- Even if Facebook Jail is temporary, a few days of inactivity will put a damper on your social media presence,
- You may lose followers in the process.
Relevant: Trouble changing your Facebook page name? Check my guide here
Types of Facebook Jail
You can face two types of Facebook ban:
- Permanent Blocking
The users cannot access their accounts in any way ever again. The permanent blocking is mostly for users with massive offenses, primarily criminal, such as hacking the site’s security and the facilitation of illegal transactions.
- Temporary Blocking
Temporary blocking is when Facebook blocks your account or certain features of it for a limited period, after which, full functionality is restored.
Facebook Jail is mostly temporary, the maximum being 21 days. Usually, they are 3-7 day bans, but can also last up to three weeks.
The Facebook block can be classified into three tiers, depending on the severity and length of the ban.
- The Lowest Tier: Bans in this tier last only as long as the timeline Facebook sets in your notification. You can also file an appeal to lift the ban even before its scheduled date.
- The Middle Ground: In more severe cases, the site suspends some features of your account permanently, such as liking content or commenting on them. Note, however, that in this case only some features of your account are blocked instead of a complete account ban.
- The Highest Level: This means the complete banning of an account. Consider it gone as there is no way to retrieve it.
Usually, this is reserved for the most severe offenses, such as a hacking attempt.
The easiest way to make sure Facebook police won’t catch you is to read the community guidelines and terms and conditions, but let’s be honest, these guidelines are too long tedious to read, I wouldn’t, and you wouldn’t either.
But, I have collated a few tips that you can follow to escape the prying eyes of Facebook to keep your account safe from being blocked.
Avoid Facebook Jail Through Simple Account Creation Steps
Avoiding Facebook Jail is not exactly tricky, though you have to be careful. Here are some of the tips you should follow to avoid Facebook jail.
They are easy to do and are part of a normal account creation process, but can save your account from being flagged.
1. Complete your Facebook profile.
First things first! A profile with only half the details will be flagged as incomplete. If one posts to communities or groups with an incomplete profile, then it may lead Facebook to believe that your account is only used for posting to groups, and that will be marked as spam.
Make sure your details are up to date, and your ‘About’ page is complete.
2. Verify Your Account Through Mobile
Before doing just about anything else, add your phone number to your Facebook account, then verify it.
✋ Stop worrying about SEO and have me do it for you
PS: Ready to work with the 0.01% of all SEOs worldwide? Click here.
Doing this allows Facebook to verify your existence, and that you are a functioning human being and not some bot or a fake account. An unverified account will have a hard time posting without being flagged or even blocked because of spamming.
Here’s how to verify your FB page.
3. Know-How Facebook Works
Ending up in Facebook Jail means that you did not use the site correctly and that you violated some rules. One way to prevent this is to read the help section, terms and conditions, and community guidelines.
Sounds tedious right?
So I am going to tell you two basic rules to note when using Facebook.
- Do not use the name of a business as the name for a personal account. You cannot participate in groups using your profile with the name of your business, perhaps with the intention of posting on its behalf.
- Biographies are meant to be used by actual people and named with their real names. Two ways to get around this is to create a personal profile, then link your business in the information section, or to just create a new page for your business.
- Every person can only have ONE Facebook account. Some people are banned because they have a personal account and a business account used for private purposes.
Get around this by maintaining only one personal account with links to all the different pages and businesses you want to market so that the Facebook algorithm would not ban you.
[Also, read, how to invite your friends to Facebook page or event]
Avoid Facebook Jail When Using Facebook Daily
Now that the simple tips have been enumerated, we move on to pointers to follow when using Facebook on a daily basis.
1. Time your posts.
No site caters to spammers, even Facebook. Posting the same content in multiple pages or groups at nearly the same time alerts the Facebook sheriff about this activity.
Avoid jail time by simply waiting a few minutes between each post, or by using a post-scheduling app to make sure that you will not be flagged as “suspicious.”
2. Make authentic content.
My experience tells that content creators are often blocked because they use images from Google image search, which have been marked as SPAM already. Your post will then contain the same complaints as that photo.
Originality doesn’t only apply to pictures. Any sort of post shared by many people at once will likely be marked as SPAM.
To simply put it, create your own content so you would not be put in Facebook Jail.
3. Make it personal. Tag carefully.
This tip has multiple applications and implications.
- Avoid anonymity. Knowing the people you add and letting the people know you reduce the risk of being flagged as SPAM as well as improves your image credibility.
- Conduct your posts based on honesty and real-world relationships. For instance, if you start tagging people who do not know you, you may be reported for SPAM complaints.
- Do not add people to groups without their consent.
- Post using your personal profile.
- Only tag people if they are actually connected to the post or image.
All in all, this points to not acting weird and creepy. For sure, I would not want to be added by a person I don’t know or be tagged in something I have nothing to do with.
4. Do not share prohibited content.
I mean, this one is pretty straightforward and is just common sense, but many people seem to forget (or willingly forget). Facebook is monitored; prohibited activities will get you banned.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Sexually suggestive posts
- Posting nudity
- Hate speech
- Intense racism or xenophobia
- Direct attacks on others
- Imposters and posers
- Fake timelines
- Self-harming content
- Links to malicious software
Refrain from sharing these types of content so you won’t be flagged as abusive.
5. Be vigilant of saboteurs.
There will be no shortage of people who will drag you down and play dirty. Any post you make can be attacked by so-called network “trolls,” which will flag your content for being harmful when it is, in fact, clean.
If you see such behavior on your page, group, or community; then delete the post, block them from seeing you, and report the account to Facebook. Hopefully, the “troll” will be the one who will land on Facebook Jail.
6. Avoid excessive behavior.
Facebook can stop you from commenting or even liking any post when you are under what is called “Facebook Timeout.” This usually occurs when you get marked as a SPAM-bot because of excessive liking and commenting.
Other times, the excessive posting is a recipe to get sent to Facebook jail for the same reason listed above.
Control your pace at which you comment, like, and post. Facebook not only does this to filter SPAM-bots but also to control the flow of information traffic in their servers. ‘
7. Take a hint. Drop it.
Suppose in the real world, someone does not like what you do, and you are told of that fact. Chances are you will stop doing that because you are inconveniencing them.
Social media is mostly the same. If groups are disallowing or disapproving your post, then drop it.
Stop posting to these groups anymore, because once you are reported as a spam poster, then the Facebook “Sheriff” will turn his eyes to you.
Why Am I In Facebook Jail?
Simple. If you are in Facebook Jail, then you must have committed a violation of their Terms of Service, such as the ones I talked about earlier.
One recently emerging reason for getting banned on Facebook is suspicious payments.
Fraud with payments through Facebook will instantly get you banned, and any payment made through the fraudulent card will be reversed.
No site likes stolen credit cards or any other conduct that constitutes fraud. It could not only land you in Facebook Jail but in real cold prison for criminals.
Take care of these; follow tips so that you won’t find your account banned for misconduct. You may find a lot of tricks online to get out of Facebook jail, but believe me, these are all tricks to make money out of your desperation. Do not download Javascripts or click links to any website. Facebook is well-equipped to detect any fraudulent or illegal activities, so my advice is to play it fair and Facebook will grant you full access to your account.
And that is it. Liked this post? Have you ever been banned by Facebook? Tell me about it in the comments section below.
Feel free to share this post to spread these tips on avoiding Facebook Jail.
Read more Facebook-related articles here.
