Meta Must Be Held Accountable For The Unjust Banning of Accounts.

Right now, I think what is keeping this movement from getting a lot of traction is the fact that most of its supporters have been banned from Meta platforms. I see that People Over Platforms has a FB page and an Instagram page, but those of us banned by Meta cannot interact with those pages (e.g., like, follow, comment, etc), so I don't think they will get much of any kind of momentum there. My Facebook account (which I had approx for the same amount of time as you) was suspended without warning a couple of months ago. Prior to joining Facebook, I had been active on other platforms like Tribe, MySpace, Livejournal, Deadjournal, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Pager, ICQ, and then further back to pre-internet stuff like QuantumLink and local BBSes. (I've never been interested in the short-form platforms like Twitter, Instagram, etc. as they are inherently flawed by the short-form limitations and lack of important features). Over the past 10 to 15 years, Meta has basically acted like a cartel to effectively create a monopoly for itself. A lifetime's worth of contacts, friends, acquaintances, conversations, communities, etc. became almost exclusively, for better or for worse, funneled through Facebook and Messenger. When Meta suspended me, they didn't even give any reason. It was just done without warning, and with no chance of appeal (pressing their "appeal" button ≠ an actual appeal, and it doesn't take you to an appeal process; all it does is put your account at the front of the queue for immediate permanent suspension). It wasn't until a few minutes afterward that I got an e-mail stating that my account somehow violated community guidelines regarding "dangerous individuals and organizations", which is a guideline that is supposed to be about forbidding glorification or support of things like terrorist groups, drug cartels, genocidal regimes, etc. Of course they didn't actually inform me of what specific crime i had allegedly committed (i.e., what dangerous individual or group I supposedly glorified or supported, what actual post or image I had made that was guilty of such, etc.), because I NEVER DID ANY SUCH THING. I have never posted anything whatsoever that could even be slightly mistakenly construed to be supportive of any such groups or people. It is a basic human right of due process that when someone is accused of a crime, that they not be merely told what general law/rule/regulation/guideline they supposedly violated; they must be informed of the specific crime they are being accused of. And then evidence must be presented, and the accused must be allowed to present a defense. All of this MUST happen prior to judgement and sentencing. For there to be said that an "appeal" process actually exists, all that must occur beforehand, and then there actually has to be a process for someone to make an appeal, which by definition must allow for the person be allowed to freely voice their reasoning why judgement was unfair, and it must be read and considered by actual humans of authority. Facebook/Meta offers NONE OF THE ABOVE. You are accused, judged, and sentenced without being informed beforehand; not told the actual crime you were accused of and not presented with any evidence of said crime; and not allowed to present a defense. And there is no appeal process, just a placebo button fraudulently labeled "Appeal". Even if this button took you to a text field you could fill out, that would be read by a live human of authority, without being told of the specific crime and presented with the evidence of the crime, you can't defend yourself, let alone even begin to compose something that could be called an "appeal." Anyway, that's all besides the point... When my account was suspended, I was immediately cut off from 99% of everyone and everything I knew. Several hundred friends and relationships I had cultivated over a lifetime; dozens of communities i was a participant in; hundreds of artists, musicians, small businesses etc. that I followed and interacted with... Not to mention dozens of conversations I had going on in messenger... ALL STOLEN FROM ME BY META... And when this happens, from the perspective of all those contacts and groups, you are silently effectively erased from the platform history... you just disappear. Like when Stalin would have political opponents liquidated and then have official photographs edited to remove them, have all traces of their existence wiped from the planet, etc. You are basically UNPERSONED. If most of your friendships, relationships, communities, communications, etc. were via physical, in-person interactions and via personal platforms (e.g., family, local friends and groups, with all communication via phone, U.S. Mail, and e-mail), and you only used social media as something supplemental, then getting banned by Meta under false pretenses isn't such a terrible thing. You might even find it liberating. But if most of your friendships, relationships, communities, communications, etc. had become funneled through Facebook, Messenger, etc. to the point where you only kept a tiny fraction of your friend's phone numbers in your phone, then getting banned by Meta under false pretenses can be absolutely devastating. Especially if your life outside of social media platforms was already marginal because of health, economic, or other reasons. Because even when you are down and out, in a bad place in life, etc., if you at least still have your network of friends, acquaintances, etc. you have something essential that can help you continue to find a reason to continue existing. You can follow the lives of your friends and interact with them online; you can follow the happenings of all your favorite bands and artists and interact with them, stay informed of any new music they might release or shows they might be playing near you; you can stay active in online communities dedicated to subjects that are meaningful to you; you can post as little or as much as you want about your own life for your friends to see; you can create an event listing if you want to have a gathering or if you are actually running or participating in an event someplace that you would like to invite friends to, and your friends can do the same and invite you to their events; you can respond to people who need advice or assistance, or seek it yourself when needed..... etc. etc. It's enough to still provide a meaningful existence to someone who is mostly housebound or otherwise mostly isolated. But if you take all that away from someone, without any legitimate cause, and without warning, it can completely remove any reason they have to continue wanting to live.