N.S. content creator trying to get social media accounts back after Facebook hack – Halifax | Globalnews.ca

A Nova Scotia realtor and content creator is trying to regain control of her social media accounts after hackers took over her Facebook and posted images that got her banned.

For the last three years, Megan Isenor ran a monetized Instagram page focusing on budget-friendly DIY renovations, which had about 5,500 followers at the time it was shut down.

“Which doesn’t seem like a ton, but to me it’s just the fact that all the work I’ve done over the last few years is just gone now,” said Isenor.

Last weekend, Isenor was on a trip to New Brunswick when she got a message from an Instagram follower asking if her Facebook had been hacked.

She signed into Facebook, where she got a message telling her she had posted something that violated its community standards guidelines and her account had been disabled.

“At that point, I had no idea what was posted at all,” she said.

A friend later sent her a screenshot showing the hackers had posted imagery featuring the Islamic State flag.

The pictures weren’t posted to her Instagram account, but that was shut down too since the accounts were linked.

Isenor said getting hacked was “stressful” and “violating.” She reached out to the company — which was recently rebranded with the new name “Meta” — but hasn’t heard anything since.

“It’s definitely hard when you don’t have the ability to even plead your case and say, well, this isn’t what I would do,” she said. “I would like to be able to explain to someone that I would never post something like that.”

Since her Instagram page had ads that the company benefited from, there should be a way for creators to reach them when a hack happens, she said.

“It’s frustrating as a business owner because I use it for my business. When you have all that work taken away, that’s the hard part,” she said.

She said she had two-factor authentication set up for Instagram, but not Facebook.

“Well, I will now, for sure,” she said, adding with a laugh: “It’s a little too late for this situation.”

Isenor created another Instagram account, where she made a video to let her followers know what was going on and to voice her frustrations.

She quickly learned she wasn’t alone. After posting the video, she began hearing from multiple people who have had issues with hacking in the past and had difficulty getting help from the company.

“It seems to be very common, you don’t really realize how often it’s happening until people start reaching out, being like, ‘Oh, it’s happened to me,’” she said.

“There’s been maybe two or three people where I’ve seen the exact same kind of situation happen, where it’s been through Facebook … but there’s so many happening directly through Instagram, there’s people taking accounts, hackers that are trying to hold people’s accounts for ransom.”

Global News reached out to Meta for comment but did not hear back. According to Facebook’s information page for restricting accounts, most violations of the community standards guidelines will result in strikes before the account is removed.

However, in cases involving dangerous individuals and organizations, “you may receive additional, longer restrictions from certain features.”

The company also said on its page about disabling accounts that it will “let you know whether you can request another review if you believe we made a mistake.”

In the meantime, Isenor is still waiting to get her accounts back.

“It’s just a waiting game, I guess,” she said. “You request the review and just wait and see what happens.”