Six Months Later

Back in March, I posted a joke on my Facebook page that the powers that be inside Facebook world deemed as “Against Community Standards”. For a point of reference, this is what I posted:

Now, what I did not know, is that the above image is a picture of Jeffrey Dahmer. And by putting his picture on this joke, apparently mocking cannibals is against Facebook community standards.

Apparently, I hurt someone’s feelings.

So, they restricted my page. They put me in “Facebook jail”. I could not post to my Page, I could not go live, and there were a host of other restrictions placed on me. I appealed the decision to no avail. I dug into Facebook business and found a chat with a customer service rep option, and had a back and forth with him for about an hour trying to get it fixed and to have the restrictions released off of my page. He said no one could fix it. I asked for the contact information for someone who could, and he replied with, “There is no one in that department you can speak with.”

So, I said, “Thank you for your help. I’ll try again tomorrow.” I closed the chat window.

Then he called my house.

He. Called. My. House.

I would like to point out a couple of things:

  1. My home number is not associated anywhere at all inside my Facebook account, nor has it ever been.
  2. My home number is not a typical phone line. It’s a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and is therefore a different thing from just your typical phone company bringing a line into your house.
  3. I do not have the Facebook ap on my cell phone – AND – he did not call my cell phone. He called my unlisted home VOIP number that he was never given.
  4. I don’t use a phone number for verifying my account. I use a code authentication ap so that I didn’t have to give them my phone number.

And he said in an almost desperate tone, “Please don’t try again tomorrow. There is absolutely nothing you can do. You need to just let it run its course.”

This has now been six months and 20 days. Here is the page quality of my author Facebook page:

I cannot interact with my newsfeed as my page. I cannot join groups as my page. My page is not being recommended to people who are searching for anything that pertains to me, including Christian authors, and my posts are being suppressed.

I’m actually quite done. And if I didn’t live in 2021 and understand the scope of reach in the stupid platform that is Facebook, I would gladly get rid of it. Unfortunately, my audience is there.

So I’ve created a new Facebook page and I have to trash the one that I have spent nine years building.

Nine. Years.

Here is the link to my new Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/halleebridgeman/

Updated to add: People clicking the link are getting an error page. The link is correct. I’ve tested it. I think Facebook is just being pissy about this post, pardon my language.

If you would like to follow me, get notifications of any live broadcasts, see any special information, enjoy my coffee posts, enjoy my Bible verses that go up every day, and enjoy my daily jokes that will no longer make fun of the cannibals out there, please like my page. I would love to get my numbers up to where the other page are, even though I know that will never happen. I have lost the momentum of nine years of audience building. And that is just unfortunately what it is.

My husband, Gregg, believes that I was attacked in this way because I’m a Christian author. He believes that my rights are restricted because of the profession of faith that I so clearly and boldly make on a regular basis. We contacted an attorney to see if there was any kind of retaliation that I can use, and his answer was that there’s nothing we can do because we don’t pay for the service, so we are not guaranteed any kind of return for an investment.

After this last presidential election cycle, I had started to really push people toward my website and my newsletter instead of social media. as a Christian author who never shies from proclaiming my love of God, I can understand why I would be targeted. But it doesn’t make it any less annoying.

I will double-post to both pages just because I can, and because transferring my ads and such from one page to the other is more work than I have time to devote to right now. But my plan will be to eventually completely delete the entire old page.

1 comments

    • Terry Brunner on September 30, 2021 at 12:29
    • Reply

    We certainly have to take back the power over our own lives! You go girl!

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