Meta repeatedly snubs EU body over Facebook and Instagram user bans

Meta is being accused of doing the digital equivalent of leaving everyone on read. An independent European complaints body says it looked at more than 4,600 cases from Facebook, Instagram and Threads users who believed they were wrongly banned, and Meta handed over evidence in fewer than 100. That stat alone lit up the community, with commenters treating it less like a paperwork dispute and more like a full-blown corporate snub. One furious poster said they hoped regulators would fine Meta "a billion dollars a day," while others argued this kind of stonewalling is exactly how companies talk lawmakers into making much tougher rules.

The mood got even hotter because this story hits a nerve users already know well: people say they can lose accounts, businesses and years of personal history, then find there is basically no human to talk to. One commenter boiled the outrage down to a brutal contrast: mention contraception or HIV and you might get banned, but hateful posts can stay up just fine. That landed especially hard because the same report said platforms often failed to remove hate speech, with Instagram and others repeatedly accused of letting ugly content slide.

But not everyone was sympathetic. In walked the cold-shower take: using a platform is a privilege, not a right, so companies should be able to ban users whenever they want. That sparked the classic internet cage match — are social apps now so powerful they need real accountability, or are people acting too entitled about free services? Meanwhile, the community’s running joke was simple: Meta only seems to move when journalists call, which is not exactly a comforting customer service plan.