One click, 10 years gone: The cost of a Meta mistake
Thursday, 5 March 2026
While Cheyanne Figueroa slept, Meta erased a decade of her life.
On February 16, without warning, her Instagram and Facebook accounts were disabled after Meta wrongly accused her of distributing child sexual exploitation and nudity.
Figueroa, a children’s healthcare worker, said the allegation was “deeply distressing”.
“I have never posted content involving children, nor have I ever breached Instagram’s guidelines. I am a law-abiding New Zealander.”
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In an instant, she lost her connections and memories - and has been unable to reach a human who can help.
Figueroa has no idea what triggered the block. The last post on her main Instagram grid was in November. Her final story, posted 12 hours before the ban, was a photo of flowers her partner gave her for Valentine’s Day.
The day before the ban, a friend sent her a photo of a new nephew. Figueroa replied “so cute” and asked how the mother and baby were doing.
Meta’s action also disabled her 12-year-old Facebook account, wiping access to more than a decade of family history - including funeral videos, photos of her grandfather who died on her birthday last year, messages with her best friend who battled stage four cancer, and contact with her father and nieces overseas.
Contact the reporter: Amelia.wade@thepost.co.nz
“The emotional toll of losing irreplaceable personal history while being falsely accused of something so serious has been profound. To be accused by an automated system of something so serious and reprehensible has been degrading and traumatic.”
In an effort to recover her accounts, Figueroa paid $21.49 for a Meta Verified subscription, which promises enhanced support.
She has provided The Post with screenshots of the exchanges.
The initial message from support read: “I can imaging how upsetting it must be to lose access to your account, especially since you’ve invested so much time and effort into it. I’m here to help you get to the bottom of this.”
There were multiple exchanges between Figueroa and support staff. At one point an agent attempted to call, but the number did not connect. She was also passed between different teams.
One message stated: “We assure you that a lot of people that have been in the same situation as yours have managed to get back their accounts. It is only a matter of being patient.”
But Figueroa said the process has been frustrating.
“Despite paying for access, every support ticket I have lodged has been prolonged, redirected, or met with generic responses. I have been repeatedly told to ‘wait’ for the appeal process, and that representatives are ‘unable to look into the case’ further.”
For Figueroa, the issue goes beyond her individual case and raises questions about Meta’s social licence to operate.
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“This is not simply a social media inconvenience. It is a reputational issue, a consumer rights issue, an emotional distress issue, and an AI accountability issue. For many users, these platforms store over a decade of personal data, communications, and memories without due process.”
Meta has been contacted for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
Nearly 60,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling on the company to address wrongful bans linked to its AI moderation systems. A protest is planned for March 28 at Meta’s headquarters in the United States.
Internationally, there is growing speculation the suspensions may stem from a malfunction in Meta’s AI-driven content moderation.
Figueroa said the wider concerns were that AI systems were making serious allegations without clear evidence, there was little meaningful human review, paid support did not provide genuine escalation pathways, and users risked permanent loss of personal history without due process.
“I’ve been warning my friends and family to make sure they’ve backed up all their photos and get contacts for everyone.”