Musician, Pacific leader, Northland grandmother: Dozens of Kiwis' social accounts banned

From a Northland grandmother to Auckland-based rap star Jujulipps, dozens of New Zealanders told RNZ they are distressed after exhausting all options to regain their Facebook and Instagram accounts. They believe their were wrongfully suspended - with some only regaining their accounts after media queries to owner Meta.

More than 39,000 people globally have signed an online petition advocating for ordinary users impacted, who say they were being silenced by Meta's "broken AI enforcement systems".

New Zealanders affected told RNZ their accounts have been banned after Meta falsely accused them of breaching "community standards" - including alleged child sexual exploitation and nudity content - and some are calling on the government to intervene.

Some users have had their livelihoods impacted, and others said they've lost decades worth of photos and memories.

Several not-for-profit organisations have also emailed RNZ about their work being directly affected after their accounts were banned without justification.

A Northland grandmother whose Instagram account had been pulled in June said she's mortified and disgusted by the baseless accusations of her account containing child exploitation material.

"It's just horrible, there is absolutely nothing that I did [wrong]... It had photos of our garden and flowers and caterpillars. It's just the fact that the accusation has no base to it, and it's such a horrible accusation," said the woman in her 60s, who cried when RNZ spoke to her.

The woman, who didn't want to be named, said she's recently recovering from surgery and the ban on her account has cut her off from her friends, family overseas, and old colleagues. She is also unable to see posts from her grandson's Instagram account.

Her account was reinstated within a day of RNZ contacting Meta about her case.

She is the second user who got their account reinstated after RNZ's queries to Meta.

The woman said she's relieved to have her account back, but remains angry that Meta ignored her over two months of efforts to appeal the ban, and that it had taken a media query for Meta to properly assess her case.

She said sending emails to all the help inboxes she can find has in the past not landed her any useful responses.

One response said "will no longer be monitoring any requests sent to the email".

The woman said she's been poring over hundreds of social media posts from users with similar experiences, and has emailed the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and NetSafe for help.

NetSafe told her to appeal through Meta's own processes.

Musician Jujulipps banned for copyright infringement for singing own song

Award winning Auckland musician Jujulipps, who also had her Instagram account suspended this week, is in a similar plight of being stonewalled when she tried to appeal the ban.

She said her account was suspended after a video she posted of her singing her own song was flagged by Meta as a copyright infringement.

Jujulipps said she was asked by Instagram to verify her age after she tried to appeal the ban.

Instagram told her she can't use the app if she's under 13-years-old.

Jujulipps, who is 26-years-old, said her account was subsequently disabled after she submitted a photo of herself as requested by Instagram's age verification process, with no options to upload her ID.

"I thought to myself, don't even know what technology you are using to figure out if somebody's over 13 or not," she said.

She said emails to Instagram's support email have landed no useful responses.

Pacific leader affected by Meta bans call on NZ government to intervene

Prominent pacific community leader Teleiai Edwin Puni said the ban on his Facebook personal account nearly two months ago has affected his ability to work and connect with the diaspora community.

Puni, who has around 5000 friends on his account, said he's also been unable to access other community pages he moderates - such as Talanoa Live - as a result of the ban.

He said attempts to appeal have taken him in circles with no resolution.

"I really don't know where the responsibility lies, but the daily lives of New Zealand citizens is affected by the Meta system," Puni said.

"The government needs to look into it, how to also protect New Zealand citizens who are using it. They are free platforms, but the impact on our daily lives as New Zealanders and communities is where the New Zealand [government] needs to intervene."

Meta's continued silence despite growing calls for accountability

Meta in June admitted a technical glitch that led to incorrect removal of some Facebook groups, it continues to deny any widespread system issues or rising incorrect enforcement of its rules.

While Meta has responded on the actions it was taking relating to the Northland women's account, it has yet to respond to RNZ's multiple requests for it's thoughts on whether AI moderation of content was leading to incorrect bans of accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

It's to release any figures on the number of accounts have been suspended or disabled due to possible incorrect enforcement of its rules.

Meta is yet to respond on RNZ's questions on whether it's in talks with any New Zealand government officials about rising concerns from the public around incorrect banning of accounts.

It is also yet to respond on it's thoughts on users feeling emotionally distressed from false accusations of their accounts containing child sexual exploitation or nudity material.

RNZ has put queries to Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke Van Velden, who oversees online regulation.

Meanwhile, NetSafe said anyone wrongfully suspended by Meta should appeal the decision. It said it didn't have data to capture the number of complaints it's received from New Zealanders relating to incorrect Meta bans.

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