- Jordan Nabigon, the CEO of the content curation website Shared, spent nearly $ 46 million between 2006 and 2020 on Facebook advertising before the platform launched it without warning or explanation, he said.
- Facebook said the Nabigon company violated the site’s terms and conditions, but gave no further details “due to security”. Several of your company’s pages have not been published since October 26.
- “We have done nothing wrong and I am confident of that,” said Nabigon in an interview with Business Insider. “No way was that kind of reaction from Facebook worth it.”
- Nabigon and other small business owners say they have a difficult time contacting Facebook’s customer service to resolve advertising problems.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
A small business owner who spent nearly $ 46 million over the years on Facebook ads said he was kicked off the platform without warning.
Jordan Nabigon, CEO of Shared content curation website in Ottawa, Ontario, said that Facebook deleted his company’s main Facebook page in October, without providing an explanation. He shared a Medium post detailing his experience, which received more than 400 “applause” from readers.
Nabigon spent $ 45,870,181 on Facebook advertising between 2006 and 2020 for Shared and its other gift company, according to expense reports analyzed by Business Insider.
Facebook increased its use of artificial intelligence to oversee advertising and other content during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Nabigon is among hundreds of business owners who said they suffered from Facebook’s crackdown on advertising policies.
Read More: TikTok is criticized by lawmakers for discreetly sending personal data of job seekers to China: ‘It harms all the statements they made’
“We have done nothing wrong and I am confident of that,” said Nabigon in an interview with Business Insider. “Even if there was something wrong, it wouldn’t have been worth that kind of reaction from Facebook.”
According to Nabigon, Facebook told him that he violated the platform’s terms and conditions, but gave no further details “due to security”. A small business owner said that Facebook gave him no warning that it could or would unpublish its pages and that Facebook said the decision was final.
Facebook representatives did not respond to several requests for additional comments.
Nabigon lost several company pages that have accumulated 21 million followers because of incorrect violations, he said. Facebook also blocked Nabigon from his personal account.
Tyler Sonnemaker of Business Insider spoke with seven other business owners, who run ads for companies that sell products like dogs and women’s jewelry, and said they lost revenue because of Facebook failures.
And small business owners, including Nabigon, said they had a hard time contacting Facebook ad representatives for help solving problems.
In 2010, Adweek reported that Facebook assigned an account representative if an account spent more than $ 10,000 on ads. But Facebook’s website now says the company assigns advertisers account managers “proactively.”
“Currently, there is no process for advertisers to apply for a personal account manager,” says the Facebook website. “If it is determined that your account would benefit from additional account management features, we will contact you directly.”
Nabigon said that between 2012 and 2017 he worked with representatives at the Facebook office in Toronto to get personalized help in reading the site’s advertising policy and ensuring that the company’s pages remained free from violations. Nabigon said Facebook employees contacted him directly and met with him for one-hour counseling sessions.
Read More: Instagram privately advised some creators on the frequency of posting, offering a rare glimpse of how its mysterious algorithm works
But in 2017, Facebook sent an email to Nabigon saying he would not have an account representative “for now”. He and other executives instead sent an email to customer service, which could only provide “ready-made answers” about the company’s breach and offered little additional help, Nabigon said. Shared’s company pages have not been published since October 26.
“I think there is a lot of strength in keeping the real people who should be monitoring AI or policy enforcement,” said Nabigon. “We need someone to look at the nuances and complexity of our business, especially considering our history with [Facebook] it’s long.”