Make-up artist fears for future after social media ban

A LOCHMABEN make-up artist is frustrated and devastated after she says she has wrongly been locked out of her business social media account. And Abi Black fears her livelihood could collapse after her Facebook business page was shut down due to “fraud”. Abi – who has been in the make-up industry for nearly a decade – has constantly tried to contact Meta – who owns Facebook and several other social media platforms – since being banned but has hit a brick wall. The nightmare began earlier this month after Abi couldn’t get into her account – which boasts over 3000 followers. She received an email from Meta officials stating her page had been reported for “fraud”. And despite trying to appeal the decision, Abi is yet to hear back from Meta. Strangely, Abi’s Instagram page – which is also run by Meta – has not been blocked. Abi put out a plea to people on her personal Facebook page regarding the issue and it has been shared over 600 times by friends, family and customers. A distraught Abi said: “I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this, to some it clearly means nothing but this is my livelihood and how I pay my mortgage. “I live and breathe for my work. Word of mouth kickstarted my business and I hope it can do the same here. “Someone has reported my business page for fraud. After nine years of building my page from literally nothing to almost 3500 followers. I average around 1000 clients per year. “I have no access to it, I can’t contact any of my clients who have booked through Facebook and no one can contact me on there either. “I’m not eligible for an appeal which is cruel in itself and after 180 days it will be permanently deleted. “I also cannot make a new business page due to the links to my IP address. “It has been 21 days since I’ve been not been able to get into my business account, I fear I’m just going to have to accept I’m not getting it back.” She has also contacted politicians to help her restore the page where she takes the majority of the bookings. But she says she hasn’t had a reply about her case as of yet.