You've gotta be friggin' kidding me?!

Matt recently went through a facebook temporary ban, and the reason should scare each and every one of you. Come find out the dirty, no good, horrible thing he did!

Whether we want to admit it or not, social media is the lifeblood of our existence, especially as content creators. In this day and age, it's the single most effective way to communicate with others and promote what you're doing to your specific audience.

If we didn't have social media, and messenger, the way we interact with others would be drastically different. While there are other platforms out there like TikTok, X, Bluesky, WhatsApp, etc... Facebook (and Facebook Messenger) is the unquestioned leader.

When I was growing up, I was affectionally called 'the human phone book', as I could remember just about any phone number that mattered to me. Nowadays, I couldn't even tell you the 10 digits associated with those closest to me, because 'phone calling' is secondary to messenger call and video chats.

So what happens if this is all taken away from you? I learned the hard way. I admit, I did something terrible, despicable, embarrassing, and (in hindsight) humiliating.

Want to know what I did? (Looks over both shoulders). Lemme tell ya... whispers… I said... actually I can't say it again so I'll just screen shot it... I said...

THAT'S RIGHT! That little phrase triggered FB's spam police, to the tune of an immediate facebook ban as well as a messenger ban. I was guilty until proven innocent, and had to appeal for reinstatement (luckily I regained access 24 hours later, but that’s not the point).

WHAT WAS THIS IN REFERENCE TO? Steph and I, aka #TeamINSYM, being on two livestreams back to back promoting our creative works. I said jokingly, ‘Hey we’re d*ubl* d*pp*ng tonight on these shows’. The post itself didn’t even have any external links, ONLY tags of other facebook accounts (I was gonna put the links in the comments, but before I could even do so, the ban hit, almost immediately.)

WHY WOULD THIS TRIGGER A BAN? There is a decept*ve bus*ness practice by the same name, and the overlords at FB and their AI goonsquad must’ve seen the phrase I’d typed, took it as an admission of utilizing a d*cept*ve practice, and BOOM, they laid the smackdown on me.

George Costanza violates the Facebook TOS in this explosive episode of Seinfeld, before FB even existed. Impressive!

Luckily I was back within 24 hours, but that doesn’t change the violated feeling from the event. Here are FOUR THINGS that bother me the MOST about what happened, and that should bother you too:

1) I was assumed GUILTY before being proven INNOCENT. There was no warning. There was no ‘fix this post if you want it to show' up. There was no ‘probation’. I lost COMPLETE access to everything immediately. There are people, personally and professionally, that I communicate with exclusively through social media. So there was no way to let them know. Luckily, Steph was able to get a post up detailing what happened, which in turn many others shared out for me, but that was me. What if it happened to YOU? How would YOU get that word out?

2) No one really knows the RULES of the game. How are you supposed to play by the rules, when NO ONE knows what the rules are? Not only that, we all know these abstract rules are a moving target. Facebook claims that it wants to promote COMMUNITY, but there is no more squashed community on FB than the comics community. Just ask any creator how much reach their posts have about their creative works, it’s most crickets, downgrading, and hidden posts. Even at that, it’s still the most used and effective way to promote, which is more frustrating than I can convey here.

3) Facebook not only restricted my access while their AI ‘investigated’, they went on a crusade against me. You think I’m kidding? Look at this from a group chat I’m in (someone in the group chat shared this):

This was NOT the message in question. As soon as the temporary ban hit, FB completely ‘un-alived’ me in all ways. Literally EVERY post I’d ever made was made unavailable. EVERY post got some nonsense comment like this. This is from a group text chat, and this message here was 4 days prior. No facebook, that message was NOT removed because it violated community standards. Don’t defame me and lie about what I did or didn’t do.

My accounts were completely removed in all ways, even in messenger, which had NOTHING to do with a public post on FB, so anyone that didn’t know what went down could’ve thought I blocked them. Ridiculous. I had ZERO access to anything. Access to fifteen years of pictures, memories, funerals, etc… were hanging in the balance. I got access back, but some aren’t so lucky. That’s a sobering thought that it all can be taken away in an instant by an out-of-control AI filter.

4) Unbelievably inconsistent enforcement of bans. Look at your feed on a daily basis. Political hate speech, full frontal nudity, violence, legitimate scams, Facebook says ‘no problem’. There are some that I’ve personally reported, that I KNEW we scams, and facebook said ‘not removing’. I don’t engage in troll posts (except of course, about the band TROLLFEST), but I stay away from all that crap.

Yet a LEGITIMATE misunderstanding gets the ‘death penalty’ treatment. YES, I was able to appeal and get access back (albeit downgraded - I can clearly see that my posts are going lower, even in my own feed!) , but not all are as lucky. I know many people who lost their accounts and it took YEARS to get them back, and some never did.

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So what’s the solution? I’m just the tiniest spoke on a wheel, just like you are. There’s nothing really that I can do, except cross my fingers and hope that I don’t violate the TOS again, just by existing. No social media platform should dominate our daily activities like FB and messenger does, but here we are. *** shrugs shoulders *** All we can HOPE for is clearer rules, more consistent penalties for breaking them, and hopefully other platforms that will rise up that will take some of the daily reliance away from Facebook.

Yes, I am a fantasy writer, and I know what’s above is a fantasy statement.

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Anyways, that’s my rant. Hope you got some chuckles from the article, even though the topic isn’t funny at all.

And before I go, the point of the original banned post was to promote livestreams we were doing top promote TATSUMI: THE SERPENT MISTRESS #1 which ENDS on KS in just 2 days (Thursday at 10pm). We’re currently in striking distance of two stretch goals, and have some others waiting in the wings.

ESPECIALLY after this most recent event, we’re calling out and asking for a FAVOR from you - if you all could SHARE, post, talk about this, and even consider BACKING the campaign, that would be great. We really believe in this story, and think we’ve assembled some of our best merch and art yet. There’s even WOODEN COVERS and custom LEATHERWORK!

Check out the campaign here! ENDS JUNE 12th at 10pm EDT!

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That’s what we’ve got for now! Happy posting everyone!

Matt & Steph
#TeamINSYM
www.linktree.com/insymmetrycreations