How to get back into Facebook if you’ve been locked out

Blog Outline

Why is my Facebook account locked?

• Signing in from an unknown location
• Identity Suspicions
• Phishing and Spam
• You’ve signed in on several devices
• Someone reporting your account
• Violating the terms of use and Community Standards

How to get your Facebook life back

• Contact them
• Log into Facebook using Account Recovery options
• Get help from another Facebook friend

Wrapping up

Facebook is used by almost three billion people to interact with family, friends, and coworkers, share aspects of their lives through images and videos, livestream, shop, and even run companies.

Following the data leaking of over 500 million of it’s users in April of 2021, the company is aware they need to be vigilant with the information of its customers. With so much personal information on the network, Facebook has taken efforts to secure it by beefing up security and enforcing restrictions more firmly than previously.

Unfortunately, this has resulted in some Facebook users being locked out of their accounts, and they are unsure how to regain access to the service.

Let’s look at how we can solve this for you, and why it happens in the first place.

Why is my Facebook account locked?

Losing access to your Facebook account is a terrible feeling. You’ve put a lot of time and effort into building the account and now you can’t access it.

Facebook notifies you when it locks your account. If you try to login you’ll see a message that says “Account Disabled” and instructions on how to contact them.

Facebook takes the security of its users’ accounts extremely seriously, and if it believes that an account has been hacked or that you’ve breached their terms, the account is locked down until you reach out to them.

1 – Signing in from an unknown location

Facebook will lock your account if you sign in from an unknown location and this is increasingly becoming the most common reason for having your account locked. This can happen if you have been traveling and if Facebook detects a different country’s IP address they’ll flag it as suspicious activity.

As annoying as it can be while you’re on holiday or business travel, this feature has been designed to protect users from getting hacked or spammed.

One workaround for this is to use a VPN to make Facebook “see” that you’re still in your home country. VPNs range from the free Windscribe (good for 10 Gb of traffic a month) to monthly subscriptions to the likes of the very popular Express VPN.

2 – Identity Suspicions

While adopting an alias to retain your privacy or be entertaining may appear innocuous at first, it’s a simple way to get your account locked.

Using a celebrity’s photo, submitting a blatantly erroneous birth date, or establishing an account for a fake person or corporation are all examples of easy ways to get your account locked.

If Facebook is suspicious of your identity in terms of the name you use on your account, you’ll likely be asked to scan some Government ID and send it to them.

3 – Phishing and Spam

Phishing and spamming are two major forms of hacking on social media platforms like Facebook. Phishing is when someone sends out a fake message to get the user to share their information or to trick them into downloading viruses or malware onto their devices.

Spamming is when someone sends out multiple messages, such as notifications, advertisements, and promotions in order to get you to click on it.

Doing either of these – unknowingly or not – is a surefire way to get into Facebook jail fast.

4 – You’ve signed in on several devices

Signing in on several devices, which Facebook can sometimes interpret as a hint that your account has been stolen, is another way you can have your profile locked down.

With Facebook available as a phone and tablet app it’s not surprising that people are often accessing their account on several devices.

But if you see the message “We detected unusual activity and need you to confirm your identity”, this could mean your account has been interpreted as compromised, when all you were doing was using Facebook on a new device.

5 – Someone reporting your account

Usually, there are three reasons for this:

1 – If someone reports your account as fake, it means they suspect your profile isn’t real and you’re pretending to be someone else. This can happen if you create a new account with a different name and link it to your existing Facebook account.

2 – If someone reports your account as abusive, it means that they think that you are using the system for bad purposes and violating the rules or guidelines that Facebook has set up.

Abusive accounts usually get suspended for 7 days, then 30 days for repeated abusive posts or private messages. Further violations after some 30 day suspensions can lead to your account getting permanently suspended by Facebook.

3 – And if they report your content as spam, it means that they think this is unsolicited promotional content and is unwanted by most people on Facebook.

6 – Violating the terms of use and Community Standards

The company prohibits people from violating its Terms of Use and Community Standards. If you violate any of these policies on Facebook, the company may put you on a temporary lock. This will prevent you from using your account for a certain period of time or permanently depending on the severity of the violation.

Read Facebooks’ full terms of service here.

How to get your Facebook life back!

1 – Contact them

If you’re certain your Facebook account is free of any of the above reasons and you believe it was locked or disabled by mistake, contact them directly to get your concerns handled.

You may also fill out and submit an online form, and Facebook will look into your complaint.

However, they can not promise that you will receive a prompt answer within a specified time frame, so you may have to wait a few weeks for a response.

2 – Log into Facebook using Account Recovery options

The account recovery options can be used when we forget our password, get locked out of our account, and also when we want to un-link our Facebook account.

• Login with Facebook: Facebook will send an email or text message to the registered phone number or email that was used to create the account. They will need to verify this information before you can log in.

• Reset your password: If you were unable to retrieve your password, then you can use this method to recover it. You will need part of your old password or answer some security questions before you proceed any further than this step.

3 – Get help from another Facebook friend

If all of the above methods have failed, your next step is to use your Trusted Contacts to try to regain your Facebook account. The only issue is that Trusted Contacts must be set up before you are locked out of Facebook.

Even if you’re currently successfully signed into your account, we recommend that you plan ahead and configure your Facebook Trusted Contacts as soon as possible.

• Go to Settings by clicking the drop-down arrow in the top right corner of the screen on Facebook.
• Select Security and Login from the left-hand menu.
• Find Choose friends to call if you’re locked out under “Recommended” and click “Edit”.

After that, you’ll be asked to add 3 to 5 friends to whom you can reach out if you have an issue with your account and you may change this list at a later time by adding or deleting people.

When you enable your Trusted Contacts, logging into your Facebook account becomes a lot easier if you forget your password.

Using Facebook Business Manager as a tool to protect pages and advertising accounts

Facebook business manager is a free service that can help you to manage all your Facebook Pages and Ads accounts under the same platform.

It’s important that you keep your Facebook Page safe from spammers, hackers, and other online intruders. We’ve already given you a few methods to protect your account, but another strong way is to register it on Business Manager, which will provide you with an extra layer of protection.

If this seems like too much time and hassle you can use a social media management outsourcing service to look after your Facebook business account.

Wrapping up

If you have been locked out of your account, there are a few ways to get back in. If you have been locked out due to forgetting your Facebook password, first try entering your email address and a new password will be sent to the email address associated with your account. If this doesn’t work, you can also contact Facebook’s Account Recovery department by clicking on the “Help” option from the drop-down menu on their homepage.

In case these options don’t work as well as you hoped, you can still end up getting back into your account by having another Facebook friend help you recover it.

In 2010 people used Facebook for staying in touch with family and friends and maybe the occasional holiday check-in. But in 2021 the platform is now used extensively for people to run their businesses, Facebook Ads, and have a network of their interests and industry on the popular Facebook groups. 

Getting locked out of your account can be as harmful to your business as losing your phone. But if you use our tips above you should be back in Facebook’s good graces in no time at all.

For additional free tools and tips – we think you’ll like this resource, and if you’d like to have a consultation with us to help lift your business higher you can contact us anytime here.

What Can A Marketing Agency Do For Your Business? Contact SocialManas Today.

SocialManas Digital Marketing Agency is a full-service digital marketing agency in Bethel, ME with over 20 years of experience. We specialize in social media management, website development and facebook advertising.