Cory Gunther
There’s a concerning issue happening at Facebook where user accounts are getting disabled, or even banned and deleted, through Instagram. Hackers are linking junk Instagram accounts to Facebook and gaining access, then eventually, both accounts get disabled.
Over the last two weeks, dozens of reports have flooded Reddit with users confused, mad, and unable to recover their disabled Facebook profiles.
From the looks of things, hackers are creating Instagram accounts and using a vulnerability to link Instagram to someone’s Facebook. Once the two are connected, hackers can access the entire friend group and private messages through the shared Facebook Messenger, which isn’t good.
For those unaware, Facebook added cross-platform messaging between the two social apps in 2020, making it easier for friends and family to communicate. However, once a hacker connects to your Facebook and starts spamming accounts, it breaks Instagram’s community guidelines and gets disabled. As a result, the connected Facebook profile meets the same fate.
One user on Reddit said their Facebook profile went from being disabled to gone entirely after an unknown linked Instagram account broke the rules. As you can see from the Facebook popup, users can appeal the decision, but that’s rarely successful.
To make things worse, trying to appeal the ban is almost impossible because even if you’re able to make headway on Facebook, it’ll direct you to Instagram. The problem with that is now users are trying to appeal the decision for an IG account they don’t even own. It’s a lose-lose.
It’s already hard to recover a hacked Instagram by uploading a photo of yourself or filling out Instagram’s recovery form, and the process is even more difficult on Facebook.
Both platforms are notorious for being impossible to contact, with automated bots instead of an actual human trying to help you. So, if your Facebook goes down because of this Instagram situation, you might be out of luck.
We can’t guarantee it will prevent this hack, but it’s worth pre-emptively linking your Facebook account to an Instagram you control to make yourself less of a target. If you suspect a random person is linked to your Facebook, try manually removing it from your page. In the meantime, we’ve reached out to Facebook for a comment and will report back once we learn more.
