INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) -- Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is laying off 10% of its employees or approximately 8,000 people.
The job cuts at Meta are causing great concern among social media users in Indiana, especially business owners who rely on Facebook and are locked out of their accounts.
Kayleigh May of Vincennes owns a shop called Lady May the Hippie Way, which specializes in tie-dye and custom designs.
There is no storefront, so May makes all of her sales online and at festivals.
“Every clip, piece of clothing has the QR code that links back to my Facebook business page,” May said.
Her business Facebook page got hacked, and she’s been unable to post anything since April 3.
“I was asleep, and I woke up the next morning, emailed somebody from Los Angeles, logged in, and they took my name off of my Meta business suite,” May said.
When she tries to log in, it says there is no business account associated with her name.
May pays $50 a month for a verified account, which means she can talk to Meta customer service.
But she says they closed her case without giving her access to her page.
She says it’s had a devastating impact on her business. “I have no sales. I have no way of contacting my, my customers. I have about $50,000 worth of inventory with that QR code to go back to, so if I start another space for customers, come back to me. I have to redo everything, my business cards, everything I invested money into.”
May is not alone.
As a Realtor and owner of three Jordans Fish and Chicken restaurants, Christina Hodgeson relies on Facebook to communicate with customers.
Hodgeson says, on March 30, she was on the app when she got a notification out of the blue, telling her she violated community standards on child sexual exploitation.
PREVIOUS | Indy business owner says Meta wrongfully accused her of child sexual exploitation
“It said this account has been deactivated,” Hodgeson said. “I was just appalled. I'm a mother, and I would never do anything that had to do with child exploitation, and I just thought it was very offensive.”
Hodgeson said she had no idea what triggered the violation, but she tried to dispute it with Meta, but that didn’t work.
Despite a story with I-Team, Hodgeson says Meta still hasn’t resolved the issue.
“The system is broken,” May said.
She has an alert on her website alerting customers her Facebook account was compromised.
Identity Theft Resource Center says problem “not limited to Meta”
May and Hodgeson are concerned layoffs at Meta will make the problem worse.
James Lee, president at the Identity Theft Resource Center, said customers will see artificial intelligence replace human customer service in many other companies and agencies.
“It's not limited to just Meta,” Lee said.“The first thing that everybody needs to remember about any of the social media platforms, you are not the customer, you are the product. They want your data, and they turn around and sell advertising, and the information that's collected to their actual customers. So, their customer service for those individuals is going to be just fine.”
The Identity Theft Resource Center says technology is developing rapidly.
“We've moved beyond chatbots,” Lee said. “We have agentic AI that can do a lot more than just answer the canned questions.”
Federal Trade Commission receives complaints from Meta users
WRTV Investigates filed a records request with the Federal Trade Commission, a federal agency that oversees Meta. WRTV Investigates found complaints filed by Meta users across the world, saying they were wrongfully accused of violating community standards.
- “The system claimed that I had violated community guidelines related to child sexual exploitation nudity, which is entirely false,” reported one Meta user in Taiwan. “I have never posted any such content.”
- “This is extremely serious and has caused harm to my reputation, my mental well-being and business,” wrote a consumer in New York. “I want to state clearly and unequivocally I have never posted, engaged in, shared, or participated in anything even remotely related to such behavior.”
- “On June 3, 2025, both my Facebook and Instagram accounts were permanently disabled,” read another complaint filed with the FTC. “I was accused of violating Meta's Community Standards, specifically regarding child sexual exploitation, abuse, and nudity, which are extremely serious and harmful accusations.”
The FTC has not yet agreed to speak with WRTV Investigates about what it's doing to address the problem.
More than 64,000 people have signed an online petition that blames Meta’s AI moderation system.
Brittany Watson founded People Over Platforms Worldwide, a nonprofit pushing Meta to make changes.
“These platforms wanted us to put our lives online, and now that we have, we shouldn’t be able to have our accounts disabled or suspended, especially with no proof or transparency as to why,” Watson said.
Watson has heard from consumers all over the world who are locked out of their accounts and have been unable to reach Meta to resolve the situation.
"I want them to actually acknowledge the harm this is doing to thousands of people,” Watson said. “I want them to change their AI system."
'People can appeal': Meta issues response to WRTV Investigates
WRTV Investigates contacted Meta regarding Hodgeson's case and complaints about alleged violations of community standards.
“We take action on accounts that violate our policies, and people can appeal if they think we've made a mistake,” read a statement from Meta.
According to data on their website, Meta is taking an increasing number of actions for child sexual exploitation.
From January-March 2025, Meta acted on 4.6 million pieces of content compared to 9.9 million from October-December.
The technology company says it uses a combination of people and technology to find and remove accounts that break its rules.
Meta also launched an Account Recovery & Support hub that assists users. Meta told WRTV Investigates that it's always working to improve enforcement of its policies, including their child nudity and exploitation policy, to help keep the community safe.
The company admits that no system is perfect, which is why it gives people the opportunity to appeal if a user feels Meta got it wrong.
Helpful links from Meta
- Making it Easier to Access Account Support on Facebook and Instagram
- Scam Prevention Hub
- Passkeys on Facebook for an Easier Sign-In
- How two-factor authentication works on Facebook
- Using Security Checkup to add security to your Facebook account
- Security Tips and Features
- Facebook alerts for suspicious friend requests
PREVIOUS | Indy man gets account back after WRTV Investigation into “shallow fakes” | Hacked with no help: Meta users frustrated
