A Frustrating Week With Meta, Facebook and Instagram

Let’s just say the past week has been exhausting, frustrating, and more than a little eye-opening.

It started on Saturday, August 15, when I decided to “boost” a Facebook and Instagram post promoting “Mid-Summer Garden Update Part 2: Succulents in the Pacific Northwest.”

To boost posts on Facebook and Instagram, you use Meta’s advertising system and provide a payment method. I added $20 to the account and set very clear limits on the promotion. The campaign was scheduled to run for five days, with a maximum budget of $2 per day.

The way this is supposed to work is fairly simple: Meta deducts small amounts as people see or interact with the promoted post. If the entire budget is not used, the remaining amount stays as a credit. Once the campaign reaches the spending limit you established, the promotion stops.

At least, that is how it is supposed to work.

What Happened Instead

Sometime during the night of August 15, my Meta Business account, the Pacific Northwest Gardening Facebook and Instagram accounts, and my personal Facebook account were compromised.

Something was posted or done through one of the accounts that Meta flagged with the message that “activity on your account doesn’t follow our Community Standards.”

At roughly the same time, unauthorized charges began appearing through the payment method connected to my Meta Business account.

There were approximately 20 separate charges, ranging from about $1.60 to $8.32 for a total of $105, far from the $20 that was authorized.

Then, on August 16, there were two attempted charges for $1,000 each, both of which were declined.

Thankfully, my credit card company caught the activity, flagged the card, and locked the account.

To put this into perspective: I had authorized a promotion with a maximum spending limit of $2 per day for five days. Somehow that turned into dozens of unauthorized charges and two attempted $1,000 transactions.

That is completely unacceptable.

Where Things Stand Now

The financial side of this is still being worked through, and my first priority is getting every unauthorized charge addressed.

The second issue—and the one I am dealing with now—is rebuilding the Pacific Northwest Gardening social media presence after losing access to the Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with the site.

Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta, and after dealing with account compromises on these platforms more than once, I am understandably much more cautious about using their advertising and payment systems going forward.

For now, Pacific Northwest Gardening itself is still here, the website is still here, and new gardening posts will continue.

Unfortunately, the Facebook and Instagram accounts will need to be rebuilt.

It is frustrating to lose something you have spent time creating because of activity you did not authorize, but I am not letting that stop the website or the gardening content.

There will be a new post both here on the website and on the social media accounts next week.

We’ll rebuild from here.