[Life] Social Media Platform Suspension Outbreak: Ministry of Digital Affairs States Nearly 90% of Mistakenly Banned Accounts Have Been Restored
bella@@ 央廣 新聞1h ago
Meta's social media platforms Threads, Instagram, and Facebook have recently experienced a series of unannounced account suspensions. The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) stated today (17th) that Meta has promised to proceed with "proactive detection and proactive restoration" starting immediately. According to the notification data held by MODA, as of 4 PM today, nearly 90% of mistakenly banned accounts have been restored.
Starting late on the 14th, Meta encountered technical issues while implementing its age verification mechanism, leading to mistaken account suspensions for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users globally.
MODA issued a press release today, stating that to protect the rights of Taiwanese users, it has requested Meta to implement "proactive detection and proactive restoration" for mistakenly banned accounts, simplifying the restoration process and reducing inconvenience for users to apply individually.
For media organizations and public figures known to have been mistakenly banned, MODA has compiled a list of nearly a hundred individuals and requested Meta to unban them by 6 PM today. MODA will continue to monitor the situation, demand that Meta protect the rights of the nation's citizens, and review the current age verification mechanisms and technical tools to prevent similar misjudgments from occurring again.
MODA further explained that Australia will be the first in the world to implement a social media usage ban for minors under 16 in December 2025, and the UK has also recently announced plans to follow suit. In response to the need to protect minors, Meta launched global online safety measures and an age verification mechanism for teenagers in May this year, proactively identifying users under 13. However, due to technical issues, users worldwide, regardless of region or ethnicity, were mistakenly banned by the system.
MODA emphasized that while the concept of protecting children's online safety is commendable, users should not bear the cost and administrative burden of Meta's incomplete technology. Starting from the morning of the 15th, MODA proactively requested Meta Taiwan to expedite the restoration of suspended accounts.
Following direct negotiations between MODA and Meta's senior management, Meta has committed to "proactive detection and proactive restoration" measures for mistakenly banned accounts. They will proactively identify and restore these accounts. Existing appeal channels will also remain available for users who find their accounts have not yet been restored.
MODA explained that it is estimated that over 200 media organizations, public figures from all political parties, and thousands of general user accounts in Taiwan have been mistakenly banned. Some accounts, due to their high public profile, are easily targeted by malicious individuals abusing the reporting function, leading to priority misjudgment and suspension by the system.
MODA stated that mistakenly banned accounts are being progressively unbanned. Media outlets include the Central News Agency, Public Television Service, and Formosa Television. Public figures include former President Chen Shui-bian, former DPP legislator Chen Po-wei, KMT New Taipei City mayoral candidate Lee Ssu-chuan, the KMT Youth League, former TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je, and TPP Taipei City Councilor Huang Ying-ying, among many others whose accounts have been restored.
However, MODA noted that it has observed new mistaken bans recently, and some accounts, after being restored, were mistakenly blocked again by the system. Meta stated that after intensive repairs, this technical error has been preliminarily fixed. (Editor: Shen Chen-chiang)
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=215135
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