KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The biggest social networking site is under attack from some of its own social users. Call For Action talked to people across the country who tell the same story of suddenly being blocked by
Facebook.
With each stroke of a key, John VanPelt is connecting with friends. "It's awesome. I've become addicted to it," VanPelt said.
Facebook apparently felt VanPelt was too addicted and temporarily blocked him from posting messages.
"I guess I was too social for Facebook," VanPelt said.
VanPelt says Facebook told him in an e-mail that he overused the wall post feature. It allows you to post comments on other members pages. Facebok says it blocked him after failing to heed an earlier warning. John disagrees. "I never received a warning."
VanPelt is a teacher, and since Facebook is big with teens he turned his real life experience into a classroom lesson.
"My voice was taken away," VanPelt said. "I felt like they were denying my freedom of speech.
His students reacted by forming an online support group called
"Rescue Mr. VanPelt from blocked island."
Blocked Users Found Across The Country
VanPelt is not on an island alone. We found blocked users from Boston to Georgia to Chicago to Texas.
The problem lasts for an indefinite amount of time.
Debbie Staffieri Hudson of Georgia wrote, "The part that bothers me is that they do not (and will not) tell you what their limits and guidelines are -- only that they exist."
Facebook says it cant disclose specifics for obvious reasons, but checks accounts for suspicious activity. The web company said the users we talked to used wall posts and comments at an "abnormal rate."
It leaves users confused. "I thought this was a public forum a social network," VanPelt said. While the Internet is public you agree to a private company's terms and conditions once you log on to their site.
Facebook Comment:"We reviewed the accounts of the users who you set to us. Only one of the users below was disabled, but all seem to be using wall posts/comments at an abnormal rate and simply received warnings or temporary blocks. These users were likely flagged by Facebook's automated systems, which we use to conduct statistical anomaly analysis of the activity on Facebook in order to protect our users from spam, malware, phishing or other malicious content. We also monitor user reports of suspicious messages or other activity to flag issues for investigation. If the automated system finds activity that looks out of place (we don't disclose the specific signals for obvious reasons), it may block suspicious content or flag for our team of security professionals. Occasionally these systems erroneously block users, but were constantly looking to improve the accuracy of these systems. Ultimately, we hope that these temporary inconveniences for a minor group of people are part of maintaining the overall safety and security of Facebook for all 250 million users," spokesman Brandee Barker said.
Continue Reading to See What Facebook Users Across the Country Are Telling Call For Action About Being Blocked from Facebook
