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Recovery guide

What to do when your account is disabled: work out which situation you are in, follow the official steps, keep a record and avoid scams.

1. Identify your situation

Look at the notice in the app and any email from Meta, and work out which of these applies to you. The steps are different for each.

Disabled for a policy reason

The notice names a reason such as a Community Guidelines violation, child sexual exploitation, scams or impersonation. The notice usually also shows how to appeal (request a review). Even if you think the reason is wrong, read that information first.

Hacked or taken over

Your password, email address or phone number was changed without your knowledge, or someone logged in from a device you do not recognise. Accounts are sometimes disabled after a takeover. Meta has separate official recovery pages for hacked accounts (Instagram (opens in a new tab), Facebook (opens in a new tab)).

Age check

You were asked to confirm your age, or the account was suspended because it was judged to belong to someone under the minimum age. Suspensions like this have been reported in countries that enforce age rules, such as Australia and Indonesia (see What’s happening). If you are an adult who was wrongly flagged, you can follow the instructions to verify your age.

Disabled because a linked account was disabled

You were told your account was disabled because another Instagram or Facebook account linked in the same Accounts Center was disabled. Note which account was affected first and what reason each account’s notice gives.

2. Official steps

Appeal in the app or the support hub

Use the appeal button on the notice to ask for the decision to be reviewed. The button’s name can differ by app version and language. Since December 2025, Meta has run a central support hub for Facebook and Instagram accounts (Meta’s announcement (opens in a new tab)). Official help: Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), Facebook Help Center (opens in a new tab).

ID or selfie-video verification

If you are asked to confirm your identity, you will be asked for a photo of an ID or a selfie video. Only submit these inside Meta’s app or official website. Do not send your ID to anyone who asks for it by message or email.

Check the deadline

The notice shows a deadline for appealing. It varies, so check the date on your own notice and write it down. Once the deadline passes, you may no longer be able to appeal.

The Oversight Board is usually not a route for disabled accounts

To appeal to Meta’s Oversight Board you need the reference number from Meta’s own appeal and an active account that has not been disabled and that you can still log in to (Oversight Board FAQ (opens in a new tab)).

Note what was flagged

Write down exactly which rule you are said to have broken, whether a specific post or message is shown, and when the account was disabled. You will need this when you write your appeal and if you use other routes later.

3. Collect evidence

Whatever you do next, you will need records. Save them now.

  • Screenshots of the notice (with the date, the reason and the appeal deadline visible)
  • Original emails from Meta (keep them, and check the sender address and date)
  • The dates you submitted your appeal and any verification, with screenshots
  • Account details: username (ID), linked email address and phone number, roughly when you created the account, number of followers
  • If you suspect hacking: password or email change alerts, and alerts about unfamiliar logins
  • If you used the account for work or business: ad spend, sales records or anything else showing the loss
  • A dated log of what happened and what you did

Some phishing emails are made to look as if they come from Meta. Instead of clicking links in an email, open the app or the official website yourself.

4. Avoid scams

Never do these

  • Do not pay any person or company that offers to ‘unlock’ or ‘recover’ your account for money.
  • Never share login codes, passwords or recovery codes with anyone — including people who contact you first claiming to be Meta staff or ‘recovery experts’.
  • Do not send copies of your ID outside the official screens.

Be suspicious of anyone who guarantees a result. Whether an account is restored is decided by Meta, and nobody can guarantee it.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB), a US non-profit, warns that social media account recovery is free and cautions against account recovery scams (KRCU (opens in a new tab)). Meta has sued an alleged ‘recovery’ operator accused of holding Instagram accounts hostage for money (Court Watch (opens in a new tab)).

If you have been scammed, report it to the police or consumer protection authority in your country.

5. Public routes in some regions

Some countries and regions offer public routes for challenging a platform’s decision. The following is general information only. Check eligibility, deadlines and costs on each body’s official website. This site does not give advice on the laws of other countries.

European Union

Under Article 20 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), platforms must offer an internal complaint-handling system where users can challenge decisions such as account suspensions for at least six months after the decision. Under Article 21, users can also take a dispute to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body. For Meta’s services these include Appeals Centre Europe (opens in a new tab), User Rights (opens in a new tab), Platform Control (opens in a new tab) and, for suspensions over illegal content only, Impress Dispute Resolutions (opens in a new tab). All of them are free for users (European Commission list (opens in a new tab)). Their decisions are not binding.

Each body has its own scope. For example, Appeals Centre Europe does not take disputes about impersonation, hacked accounts, copyright or child sexual abuse material, or decisions about fake accounts, bots or deceptive personas, so some suspensions fall outside its scope.

Brazil

Small-claims courts (Juizados Especiais) have ordered accounts to be reactivated in reported cases (Migalhas, in Portuguese (opens in a new tab)).

India

Complaints go first to the platform’s Grievance Officer. If you disagree with the outcome, you can appeal to the government’s Grievance Appellate Committee (opens in a new tab).

Australia

Small businesses can contact the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) (opens in a new tab).

United States

People have been reported using small-claims court over hacked or disabled accounts (Waxy.org (opens in a new tab)). How disputes are handled (which court, arbitration and so on) is set out in each service’s official terms (Instagram (opens in a new tab), Facebook (opens in a new tab)).

Personal or business account

Meta’s terms let consumers bring claims in the courts of the country where they live, while other claims go to courts in California. Courts in Canada have declined to hear claims about Instagram accounts used for business (2025 FC 410 (opens in a new tab), 2026 QCCQ 685 (opens in a new tab)), so whether an account was personal or commercial can matter.

Taiwan

The Ministry of Digital Affairs intervened in a case where an age-verification error suspended accounts on a large scale (Taiwan News (opens in a new tab)).

More official routes, regulator action and court cases for 21 countries and regions are listed on Resources by country.

6. Lawyer letters

In-app appeals often go nowhere, and outside the app there is practically no way to reach a person at Meta. Short of going to court, having a lawyer send a letter (a demand letter) to Meta’s legal team is known as the realistic option. Lawyers in many countries handle these cases, and unlike ‘account recovery’ services, a lawyer is licensed and accountable — check the lawyer’s bar registration before hiring. Even with a lawyer’s letter, Meta decides whether to restore the account.

Rough costs by country (prices and quotes that firms have published for a lawyer’s letter to Meta about a disabled account, checked in October 2026; they vary by firm and case)

As of 26 October 2026