Overnight, Meta deleted all her accounts. AI customer service won’t let her reach a human

When she woke up in the middle of the night last Thursday, Jasmine Ault went to check her phone like she usually would. 

But she didn’t expect to see a notification telling her that her Instagram and Facebook account had been permanently disabled by Meta.

It was only the start of an odyssey of frustration and anxiety spanning multiple days as Ault struggled to get to the bottom of how 20 years of personal data and professional contacts had been taken from her overnight  — all while being stonewalled by AI customer service with no option to reach a human being, even after paying extra. 

“It feels like I've lost everything in a metaphorical fire with my digital albums and my digital memories,” Ault, who lives in Toronto, told CBC News. “And who's going to protect those if I can only speak to AI?”

Ault is only the latest victim in a pattern growing increasingly common over the past two years. Numerous Canadians have reported their Meta accounts being abruptly wiped, leaving them stuck interfacing with AI chatbots unable to grasp the complexities of their situation. 

One Canadian lost 18 years of data on Facebook after posting photos from a family trip, and had a second account banned when she tried to return. Others lost accounts vital to advertising their businesses. Many believe their accounts were incorrectly flagged by Meta’s AI moderation, and while some have had accounts restored after reaching out to media, others have never had them restored. 

Meta has not responded to a request for comment from CBC News.

It comes at a time when companies are increasingly adopting AI in customer service, despite data showing customers aren’t on board. 

When Ault attempted to appeal her account deletion, she was only able to interface with AI chatbots, which she says didn't provide her with any additional information or a pathway to plead her case. (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)

Lack of empathy frustrating to customers

A global survey released earlier this year of more than 34,000 customers, service representatives and executives found that half of customers surveyed reported a lack of empathy as their biggest frustration with AI customer service.

And while 87 per cent of customers ranked phone calls as a preferred customer service channel, the survey found only seven per cent of executives plan to prioritize them. The research, commissioned by software company ServiceNow in partnership with research firm ThoughtLab, included 1,350 customers and 195 executives in Canada. 

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Ela Veresiu, associate professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University, explained that companies are buying into AI en masse despite the backlash because of the promise of efficiency and lower costs. 

“It is a lot cheaper to have an AI that responds to customer service queries than to hire people that can potentially respond, or be available to respond, 24/7,” she told CBC News. 

But while an AI chatbot is able to direct customers to existing information, such as a business’s hours of operation, they can’t handle complex “why” questions, she said, and it can create huge problems. 

A screenshot shared by Ault shows the message she was given when she tried to continue engaging with the AI help chatbot. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)

If a company has competitors, customers frustrated with poor AI rollout can take their business elsewhere, potentially leading businesses to change strategies. But for singularly massive social media companies like Meta, which offer unique services, there’s no business incentive to change their policies. 

“Customers may grumble and be dissatisfied by the overreliance of AI and customer service, but ultimately, they have no choice in the marketplace,” Veresiu explained. 

‘It’s people’s lifelines’

Ault started her Facebook account in 2006, the first year it was public. After she received the news that her Instagram, Facebook and even a linked Instagram for her dog had all been deactivated, Ault says she stayed up for the next 26 hours straight, desperately trying to appeal the decision. 

Screenshots she shared with CBC News stated that her accounts were disabled because her Facebook “doesn’t follow our rules,” but Ault said she was never told what rules her Facebook allegedly broke. 

Ault believes her Facebook had been recently hacked, and that this may have caused her accounts to be flagged. But within minutes of pressing the appeal button, she was told her case was closed and she would not be permitted to appeal again, without giving her the opportunity to plead her case. 

A screenshot taken by Ault shows the screen she was shown when she tried to access her Instagram account. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)

She created a backup Instagram account and paid for Meta Verification under the impression that it would allow her to reach a human support agent. Meta’s Verification program has various paid tiers with perks such as enhanced support. Standard, the option Ault went for, costs $14.99 US (roughly $21 Cdn). 

But the enhanced support she received was simply another AI chatbot, which swiftly told her the ticket was being closed, and that she had reached her limit of support interactions.

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CBC News has reached out to Meta, but the company has not responded to questions about Ault’s account and whether access to a human customer service agent — once a staple of all customer service interactions — is now only accessible at a high monthly cost. Of Meta’s verification tiers, only Premium and Max, which have a monthly fee of $150 US and $500 US respectively, mention the ability to “request a call from an agent.”

“It, to me, feels like Meta is trying to cut corners by not paying a human, when they're worth billions and billions of dollars,” Ault said. “And it feels almost sick to me that they just think, like, 'We can just shut these people's accounts down, they can't get through to us and talk to us,' and it's people's lifelines. It's people's memories. It's people's everything."

Ault said she opened her Facebook account in 2006, meaning she's now lost access to 20 years of digital memories. (Submitted by Jasmine Ault)

She added that since she used social media to provide marketing to clients for her side business, she’s now losing out on those financial opportunities and connections. 

Jon Festinger, a lecturer at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said Canadians may have legal recourse to challenge account deletion in court by arguing damages that demand a remedy, particularly if they used their social media for business purposes.  

“It should be relatively easy to prove the damages, at least the reputational damage, and perhaps more,” he said. 

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Canadian courts have made some steps toward dealing with AI chatbots — Air Canada was found liable for its chatbot’s hallucinated advice to a customer in 2024, for instance — but there are still gaps in Canadian consumer law when it comes to customer rights and AI, he said. 

Regulation needed now, experts say

That’s where experts believe regulation should come in. 

"Any technical solution makes mistakes," Shion Guha, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and director of the Human-Centered Data Science Lab, told CBC News. "What it's really about is that people lack a way to get the mistake fixed."

Companies must be required to provide a clear pathway to a human agent and a fair appeals process, especially if automated systems are being used to moderate social media, he said.

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“Literally in every other facet of our life, if we are appealing ... a potentially unfair decision, we reach a human being,” he added, giving the example of speeding tickets and tax appeals. 

“People expect that that will transpose to private social media platforms, and it doesn't because … they're not required to, because there's no regulatory framework in place for that.”

An existing model is the EU’s Digital Services Act, which was implemented in 2024 to update rules for online services, including guaranteeing transparency and a full appeal process when content is removed. 

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New legislation around AI chatbots in Canada was introduced in June, but it focuses on increasing safety requirements to protect children online, not consumer rights. 

CBC News has not yet received a response from AI Minister Evan Solomon’s office to questions on whether upcoming legislation will ensure Canadians have the right to access a human customer service agent during appeals processes.

In the meantime, Canadians like Ault have their digital footprints hanging in the balance, hoping that the thousands of photos, conversations and memories lost to their disabled accounts might one day be restored.