John Kivus

CategoryMeta

FACEBOOK ACCOUNT DISABLED

By John
In Meta
8 Min Read
F

Recently, my personal Facebook account (facebook.com/kivus) was disabled. If anyone can help me with this issue, I would really appreciate it. A full explanation of the situation (which I have sent to Facebook / Meta support) is included below to explain what is going on. I removed some of the information from the post that was too much over the line regarding personally identifiable information.

Vivian,

Thank you for your email. I am preparing a more complete summary of the situation related to ticket number REDACTED  to hopefully resolve this issue and get me back access to my personal Facebook account that I established more than 15 years ago.

Respectfully, I request that you escalate this issue further using this additional information to try and resolve this problem and re-enable my Facebook account. 

  1. SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION:
  • My personal Facebook account, facebook.com/kivus, which has my name John Kivus and is registered to my email address REDACTED is currently disabled.
  • The reason my account is disabled is because of the supposedly “linked” Instagram account “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” violating community guidelines. 
  • The “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account is not my account, has never been my account, I do not have access to that account, and it is not currently linked to my Facebook / Meta account.
  • I believe the “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account was temporarily and fraudulently added to my Facebook / Meta accounts on April 25.
  • The listed account is clearly a SPAM account that is completely inconsistent with my Facebook, Instagram, and Meta activities over the past decade-plus. And, again, it is NOT actually linked to my Facebook account.
  • I cannot use Facebook’s appeals form to ask for access to my account because the issue is related to a supposed Instagram account that is NOT LINKED to my account.
  • I cannot use Instagram’s appeals form to ask for access to my account because I do not have access to the fraudulent Instagram account.
  • I am Meta Verified for my actual Instagram.com/kivus account so Facebook has records of my actual identity
  1. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
  1. My Facebook Account

I believe I established my Facebook account in or about 2005-2006. Since that time, I have used it mainly for keeping in touch with existing friends and family, as well as making some new friends and (at various periods) joining groups related to my interests.

Some very important life events are archived on my Facebook page, including my wedding and histories of personal struggles such as my wife’s battle with brain cancer.

There are also a variety of photos, comments, notes, and other information that has collected on my profile over the years.

In addition to my Facebook account, I also have a personal Instagram account (instagram.com/kivus) and I manage the Instagram account of my local Rotary club (https://www.instagram.com/crabtreerotary/). These are the only accounts in my Meta profile, as shown by this screenshot:

As demonstrated by this screenshot, there is no Instagram profile “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” linked to my account. Given the username of the account, “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw”  is clearly a SPAM account.

I have a 15+ year history of using Facebook and Instagram and a review of that usage will make it clear that I have zero history of violating community guidelines.

My instagram.com/kivus is Meta Verified. In other words, Meta has reviewed a copy of my ID and confirmed my identity.

  1. Strange Account Activity on or about April 25, 2023

At approximately 4am Eastern on April 25, 2023, I received a notification on my mobile phone that someone was trying to log into my Facebook account from outside of the United States. I immediately changed the password to my account as shown in this email:

At the time, I thought I had resolved any issue related to whatever happened regarding a potential login to my account. 

I now believe that–somehow–someone was able to temporarily link the fraudulent “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account to my personal Facebook account before I changed the password. The fraudulent “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account is NOT my account. I have never used it, posted from it, managed it, or had any level of access to it.

The “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account is NOT linked in my Meta Account manager as shown by this screenshot:

My Facebook account has never had any issues with “community guidelines.” My only two Instagram accounts (instagram.com/kivus and instagram.com/crabtreerotary) have never had any issues with “community guidelines” on either of those accounts. As stated above, my instagram.com/kivus account is Meta Verified.

  1. Personal Facebook Account is Disabled

On the morning of April 26, 2023,  I received a notification that my Facebook app on my phone required me to “re-login.” When I tried to enter my username and password, I was presented with the following message that my account has been disabled:

I was very confused about this message. The listed Instagram account “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” is NOT my account, has NEVER been my account, and I have NO ACCESS to that account.

I tried to use the various resources at the Instagram help center to see if there was something I could do in order to fix this issue, but none of them worked because “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” is not my account and I have no access to it.

III. Efforts to Resolve the Issue via Meta Forms and Chat Support are not Working

  1. I cannot submit an appeal via the Facebook form since the issue is related to an Instagram account.

In your email, you suggest that I “submit the appeal on this article link: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/logout?id=260749603972907.”

Because my account is disabled based on that fraudulent Instagram account (which, again, is NOT my account and NOT an account I have access to), I cannot use this form to appeal. Here is the error message I get when trying to use the form: [ IMAGE NOT INCLUDED SINCE IT HAS PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION BUT IT SAYS THE FORM CANNOT BE USED BECAUSE OF THE INSTAGRAM VIOLATION ]

I similarly cannot appeal the decision via the Facebook mobile app since the issue relates to a fraudulent Instagram account and the Facebook mobile does not present me with an appeal option.

  1. I cannot submit any forms to Instagram since I do not have access to the fraudulent Instagram account.

As I have explained throughout this write-up, the fraudulent Instagram account “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” is not my account, has never been my account, and is not linked to my Meta profile. As a reminder, here are my actual Meta accounts (with the Kivus Instagram account being Meta Verified):

As you can see from this Account Center screenshot, there is no “​​xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account listed in my Meta profile.

Since the “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” is not my account, I cannot log into it and delete it, edit it, or do anything related to it. 

I also do not want to appeal any decision regarding the “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account. I have no opinion on whether or not it violated community guidelines The big issue is the fraudulent “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account is NOT MY ACCOUNT and it is NOT LINKED to my Meta accounts. I believe the “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account was temporarily (and fraudulently) linked to my Facebook account during that strange activity on April 25, 2023 described above. Again, “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” is NOT LINKED to my Facebook / Meta accounts.

C. My Kivus Instagram Account is Meta Verified but Meta Support has not been able to Resolve the Issue (Yet)

Since my Kivus Instagram account (instagram.com/kivus) is Meta verified, I tried to use chat support to resolve the issue. My representative, Sho, was extremely helpfulm but I eventually had to go to my office for work commitments. At that point, Sho said the matter would be escalated a manager.

I was hopeful a review of the record of my account would resolve the issue, but when I received your email last night, Vivian, I was dismayed. I hope that receiving this additional information will help you resolve the issue or escalate it to someone out can.

IV. Request for Review and Re-Enabling my Facebook Account

Respectfully, I request that this issue be escalated to someone who can evaluate the information I have provided and then re-enable my account.

As I explained in detail above, I believe this fraudulent Instagram account (xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw) was temporarily added to my Facebook / Meta on April 25. The xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw account was never my account, I have never had access to it, and it is not currently linked to my Facebook / Meta accounts, which only include:

I believe someone reviewing just the username of the account will be able to clearly see that it is a fraudulent account (it’s just a list of random letters).

I also believe someone looking at my accounts and history over the past years will clearly see that I have no affiliation with the fraudulent “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account and that it was a SPAM / fraudulent account that temporarily associated itself with my Facebook account for some reason. Again, the “xhongphuong.thuyloanebfuw” account is NOT LINKED to my Facebook account, despite my Facebook account being disabled for that reason:

Also, as further proof of who I am, my Instagram account is Meta verified. Assuming this issue can be resolved and my Facebook account is re-enabled, I will also pay to get my Facebook account “verified” to prevent this kind of issue from happening in the future.

V. Summary

Thank you for your time in reviewing these materials. I hope I have provided you all the information you need to evaluate this issue and re-enable my account. If you have follow-up questions, though, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can also contact me via telephone at REDACTED to discuss the matter, if helpful.

Thanks

Things I am Thankful For in 2020

By John
In Meta
2 Min Read
T

This year has been different for many reasons. Despite the current situation, I have been fortunate enough to have still my job, my home, and my healthcare. Beyond that good fortune, here are a few things I am particularly thankful for this year:

  • Elyssa — She is the only one that I would want to go through all of this maddeness with. For much of this time, she has been the only person I have been able to talk to in person. She has been my workout partner, my dinner date, and my best friend. If I was going to get to have only one person to get through this with—I am glad it’s her.
  • My Almost Two-Year-Old Niece — I have not been able to spend as much time with her as we might have otherwise, but the times we have gotten to see her have been a blast. I think she’s going to enjoy going to Disney World with Elyssa and me in a couple of years.
  • My New Pen Hobby — It’s been an excellent combination of distraction and comfort. I have enjoyed learning more about the pens, figuring out what I enjoy using, and then actually using them. I’m sure I’ll post about how I got into things at some point in the future (I have already written the first draft in one of my notebooks), but the big thing is that it has been an escape from all the chaos of what is going on.
  • Clemson Football– Similar to the above-described pen hobby, Clemson Football has been a distraction for me. I think I realized how much having Clemson football games made things feel “normal-ish” when COVID-19 forced Trevor Lawerence out of two games and then resulted in the cancellation of the Florida State game. I am hopeful that college basketball being back (the first games were yesterday) will provide some further escapism in the coming weeks.

Obviously, I do not intend for this post to be a comprehensive list of everything that I am thankful for this year. My family’s continued good health would have to be part of a more detailed list. The people and things listed above, however, have helped keep me semi-sane during this crazy time.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

Transitions

By John
In Meta
3 Min Read
T

It was about ten years ago that I first signed up for a Linode instance. My goal at the time was to use it to host a new website (johnkiv.us) and also be a place that I could do things like play with Ruby development or other programming tasks.

Over time, that little Linode instance grew to support multiple other websites (my father’s dental practice; Elyssa’s photograph business, Kivus & Camera; and, my Disney site, Rope Drop DOT Net). I also wrote a few posts that I am still particularly proud of, namely:

As time went on, however, I started “writing” less and ended up mainly just sharing links. In 2017, I stopped writing at johnkiv.us altogether. Also, during that time, my father hired a firm to design his website, and Elyssa moved to a platform specially designed for photography businesses. I would still write occasionally on Rope Drop DOT Net, but not as much as I would like. I would also think about setting up a new site for more general writing.

Unfortunately, my efforts to stand up a new site failed on several occasions. Also, I realized that I no longer wanted to deal with all the security configuration, updates, etc.. associated with running a Linode instance. Instead, I just wanted a place that I could write.

On a recent episode of the Six Colors, Jason Snell explained that he was moving his site to Pressable, a WordPress hosting service provided by Automatic (i.e., the people who make WordPress and Jetpack.) Though Pressable is more expensive than my old Linode instance, it took me about 20 minutes to get this new site set up (instead of the hours it would take via Linode.) Also, I was able to automatically migrate Rope Drop DOT Net over without any issues (well, issues that I have been able to find so far.)

Ultimately, this is an end of an era for me. Once I get johnkiv.us moved over (in some form—the site is so old, I wonder what the Pressable people are going to say), I will turn off that Linode instance I have been using for almost a decade. Maybe, at some point, I will decide I want to maintain a server again, but, for now, I just want a place that I can acutally write something again.

A New Place to Write

By John
In Meta
1 Min Read
A

Every few years I get the urge to start a new place that I can write. I still have Rope Drop DOT Net for my Disney writing, but I have not had a place to write about other things for a number of years. I am hoping this can be that place.

John Kivus