Phoenix business battles Meta after social media account is removed without warning

Meta suddenly removes Phoenix businesses' social media page

Arizona businesses that relies on social media to boost their sales is battling Meta, after the company suddenly disabled their accounts. FOX 10's Megan Spector hears from the owners and their fight to get them back.

PHOENIX - One local business is trying to figure out why their Instagram account was disabled by Meta—a page the company relies on for business, especially during the holidays.

Local perspective:

Bodify, a med spa in the Valley, relies on social media for a bunch of different things: advertising, sales, and client progress photos. 

But now they don’t have that option because when they opened their account, they were met with a message stating their account doesn't follow Meta's Community Standards. The message even said they cannot request another review of this decision.

"It essentially stated that we had broken some type of community standard, that our account was permanently deleted," said Bodify co-founder Jessica Stellwagen. "And that there was nothing we could do to either fight it or appeal it."

The account, which was used to drive business and bring in new clients, had 11 years of history.

"11 years of hard business building was erased in an instant," Stellwagen said.

Removed without warning: Disabled account causes setback for Phoenix business

One Valley business is trying to figure out why their Instagram account was disabled by Meta— a page they rely heavily on for business during the holidays. FOX 10's Megan Spector has more on what this means for the business.

The other side:

Meta claims the account was disabled because community guidelines were violated.

"How can this be? When people’s businesses rely on these marketing channels," asked Amanda Milovich, owner of a boutique social media agency. "Our content is all owned. It’s our people, it’s our story, it’s our machines, it’s our staff. There’s nothing stolen, nothing copyrighted, nothing trademarked."

What they're saying:

The co-founder and the business’s social media manager both said they don’t believe they violated any terms, and they’ve had no luck trying to get their account back. 

It's an account they use to bring in new clients and promote deals, especially during the holidays.

"11 years of hard work, 24,000 followers that we built and on top of that a great reputation, and then also just Black Friday which is our really, really busy time," Stellwagen SAID. "So it was just a kick to the gut, and it just felt so helpless because literally the messaging was: it’s permanent and there’s nothing you can do about. And we had no idea what we had done, if we could rectify it, or why this happened."

Big picture view:

A Tucson snack shop owner is also facing this battle with Meta.

"I’ve been growing it day in and day out for 5 years straight so this is a huge way for me to promote the business," said Tanna Cole, owner of Tanna's Botannas. "And for it to get taken down for something I didn’t do is really going to start hurting the business."

Cole realized her business was not alone.

"I started looking on TikTok and I’m like ok this is happening to millions of accounts, because of the switch up from humans going through Instagram to AI," she said.

Both are now fighting to get their accounts back.

"I’m Meta’s worst nightmare. I have been in their messages, on the phone," Milovich said. "I’m putting up personal videos of asking people for help. So it’s really just not leaving a stone unturned."

What's next:

FOX 10 reached out to Meta for a statement on this happening to local businesses, but we haven't heard back yet.