I’ve spent 4 years and countless hours building up a community around my software: my Page had 338,050 Likes, my Support Group had 13,360 members, and my Interest List had 1.47 Million followers. But all of that work was wiped out in an instant when Facebook decided to shut it down without notice.

(See below for details about how to give your feedback to Facebook about this decision)

Update 9/19: I have posted a response to many questions and comments I have received since originally posting this. Please click and check it out.

My software is a free browser extension that fixes and enhances the Facebook user interface, called Social Fixer. It is widely popular and used by over a million people. Since my application is tightly integrated with Facebook, it’s only logical that I would use the site to build my community of users, provide support, and make important announcements. I am trying to make their site better, after all.

I Have Never Posted Spam!

I’ve been diligent about always treating my followers with respect – never posting spam, avoiding any kind of engagement manipulation, and refusing to succumb to the tricks other Pages use to game the news feed. So it was quite a surprise when I logged in on September 2nd, 2013 and found that my Page had been “unpublished” and the reason cited was Spam. I’ve never posted spam! Nothing even close to it!

I had but one single action I could take – click the “Appeal” button. There was no room to write an explanation, plead my case, or ask why they had effectively shut me down. So I clicked, wondering how many hours it would take to resolve this.

It didn’t take hours. Or days. It’s been a week, and I still have not heard so much as a peep from anyone at Facebook, nor received any kind of updates on the status of my one-click “appeal”.

It’s gone. Years of work and almost 340,000 fans, wiped out. Erased.

I have never been given any details about what “community standards” I was apparently violating (because I wasn’t). This is a case of Facebook choosing to shut down someone’s business just because they want to, not because they were doing anything wrong. This is extremely frustrating and disappointing to me, and should be to others as well.

Not only did they remove the page, but they also blocked my personal account from posting anything for 12 hours (I can’t even Like anything). They also did the same for anyone who was an Administrator or Moderator of the Page – including my wife’s personal account! Members of the support team, who generously volunteer their time to help users, have been shut out as well. They did one big sweep, I guess.

Be Warned: You Are At The Mercy Of Facebook

So let this be a word of caution to other businesses, brands, and individuals who are increasingly relying on Facebook to communicate with their audience, gather feedback, and provide support: You are at their mercy. The entire community you’ve worked so hard building up, spent so much money developing, could be gone in an instant on the whim of some person at Facebook or some automated reporting algorithm. Your complaints may be ignored, and your one-click “appeal” may not even be considered. Your community can be erased without a single explanation.

It seems to me that relying on Facebook is risky at best, when they can remove everything without notice, without cause, and without the means to give meaningful feedback. Is it smart to base your business on a platform as shaky and unpredictable as this? There have been countless other examples of accounts being taken down or limited, often in error. Beware. Your community may be more fragile than you think.

What Exactly Prompted This? I Have No Idea.

Since my incident came without any advance notice, warning, or explanation, I am left to guess at what really triggered it.