Brazilian reporters and local news outlets say suspended accounts leave them trapped in endless chatbot loops, with no way to reach a person who can help.
Three job listings were all it took to erase years of audience-building at a small Brazilian newspaper.
In late April, an artificial intelligence system at Meta — the parent company of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — flagged the posts on Gazeta de Vargem Grande's Facebook page as fraudulent, suspending an account the newspaper’s editors had opened in 2011 and grown to 45,000 followers.
The newspaper’s management said the openings had been verified with partner companies before publication. So after failing to reach anyone at Meta through the company's customer support system — a process that had resolved two similar suspensions in the past — they sued.
And on May 26, a local judge ordered Meta to restore the account within five days or face a daily fine of 500 reais (about $97). But weeks later, they had yet to reach a human at Meta, and the page was still offline.
“Our newspaper provides a public service and covers the city extensively,” Editor Lígia Ligabue told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “Without the page, our ability to reach people on issues affecting the city and public debate is severely limited. Bots don't understand that. They don't understand life.”
Tadeu Ligabue, Gazeta's founder and his daughter, Lígia Ligabue, the newspaper's current editor.
The case of Gazeta de Vargem Grande, a small newspaper serving a community about 150 km ( about 93 miles) north of São Paulo, is part of a broader pattern in Brazil. News organizations say Meta is suspending their accounts over alleged violations of its rules, and many hit a wall when trying to solve the issue through automated customer systems. Several journalists and newsrooms have reported being unable to speak with a human representative after such service suspensions, leaving them with little recourse — even after courts intervene.
The nonprofit CTRL+Z, which works to hold technology companies accountable for consumer harms, has mapped 154 complaints from news outlets, news websites or profiles and journalists since 2025 over account suspensions or blocks tied to alleged terms-of-service violations, according to a preliminary tally CTRL+Z is doing for an upcoming report. Fifty-seven were filed in 2026 alone.
Meta sometimes never restores accounts, claiming technical difficulties. And it often complies with court orders only once higher courts weigh in — and only once fines exceed the cost of ignoring the court order, according to Luã Cruz, CTRL+Z's litigation director.
“This is Meta's legal strategy in the courts: the company's law firm uses the same arguments across different cases, does not restore accounts even after preliminary injunctions or final judgments, and continues to delay compliance,” Cruz told LJR.
The problem is not limited to local news organizations. Independent journalists have also faced similar situations.
Emília Bizzotto, one of Brazil's most respected Black independent journalists, has had her Instagram account suspended twice since December after her profile was hacked and allegedly used to distribute illegal content.
"They punish you first, and then you have to fight to assert your rights and seek compensation for your losses. But that never happens because all customer service is handled by AI, and people can't speak with a human representative to explain what happened," she told LJR. Bizzotto also documented her case on a temporary Instagram account.
On the morning of July 6, her Instagram account, which had a bit over 8,000 followers, was restored after a lengthy court battle and inquiries from LJR.
For Bizzotto, however, the damage extended far beyond financial losses. As a public figure who works in television and collaborates with brands and companies, she said the reputational harm was impossible to quantify.
“Instagram is the main showcase where I share what I'm doing in my day-to-day work, whether it's moderating a panel on education at an event, for example,” Bizzoto said. “I had to rely on a temporary account with 300 followers, which doesn't come close to having the same reach or engagement as my previous one.”
CTRL+Z has documented 42 complaints involving platform decisions that were reversed on appeal, including 13 so far this year. It has also recorded four complaints involving wrongful account blocks or other platform violations, two of them this year.
When asked for comment via email last week, Meta told LJR it does not comment on ongoing cases.
