Various cases of using small claims court as a last resort to restore Meta accounts

Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, is known to have neglected user inquiries and has not had a proper contact point for a long time, so much so that it only began working on creating a customer support department in 2022. Perhaps because of this, the quality of customer support is very poor, and there are cases where dissatisfied users who have had their accounts suspended without reason and never been released have filed small claims lawsuits against the company.

How small claims court became Meta's customer service hotline

Engadget reports that five small claims lawsuits have been filed by individuals in four states over the past two years against Meta, and while two have been dismissed, three of the plaintiffs were able to reinstate at least one of their lost accounts.

◆1: The case of Ray Parena
Ray Palena of New Jersey was one of the first users to create a Facebook account more than 20 years ago, when the site was still aimed at college students.

'I was worried about me and the damage it would do to my name if someone got scammed,' Palena told Engadget.

According to Palena, Meta continued to ignore his claims that his account had been hijacked, so he decided to file a lawsuit in San Mateo County Small Claims Court, alleging that Meta had 'violated the terms of service by leaving his hacked account untouched, thereby damaging his reputation.'

Parena sought $10,000 in damages, the maximum amount allowed for a small claims lawsuit. 'I didn't really care about the monetary compensation,' she said. 'I just wanted my account back because it had been taken over by a hacker. They were using my account with my name and profile picture.'

A few weeks after the lawsuit was filed, Parena received a call from Meta's legal staff requesting information about his account, and although they exchanged several emails, they were unable to help him recover his account. The day before the hearing, he was contacted by a lawyer from Meta, who asked him, 'The access team is working to secure and reactivate your account. Would you like to withdraw your lawsuit?' However, he was unable to recover his account, so Parena replied, 'I'm going to appear in court tomorrow.' Then, on the day of the hearing, he received an email to reset his account password.

Parena, however, attended the hearing. Meta did not attend, and Parena spent eight months and about $700 in travel expenses to the court to get his Facebook account back. However, the settlement is still provisional, and Engadget's investigation shows that the trial itself is still ongoing.

◆2: The case of Valerie Garza
Massage business owner Valerie Garza filed a lawsuit in San Diego small claims court alleging that her Facebook and Instagram accounts were hacked and disabled.

Meta asked Garza to dismiss the lawsuit a few weeks before the trial, but Garza ignored the request. As a result, Meta failed to attend the trial, and Garza was awarded a 'default victory.' However, because of the failure to attend, Meta filed a motion to set aside the ruling from the judge.

Garza and his team began taking action, and discovered that the hackers were using Instagram accounts to advertise sex work, which is in violation of the terms of service, and making fraudulent claims on Facebook accounts.

However, Meta did not appear at the next hearing, and the court ordered Meta to pay $7,268.65 in damages to Garza.

'My guess is that Meta didn't want to expose a record that would show how negligent they were in their business and how little they cared about the safety and financial security of their advertisers,' Garza said of the lawsuit. Garza said the case took more than a year and three court appearances, but that it was 'worth it.'

◆3: The Case of Ron Gaul
North Dakota resident Ron Gaul filed a small claims lawsuit after Meta disabled his account following a targeted attack .

However, the lawsuit was dismissed after Meta's lawyers moved the case to a district court under North Dakota law.

'I couldn't get a lawyer, so I filed a small claims lawsuit,' Goal told Engadget, explaining that Meta's decision to hire a lawyer was unexpected.

◆4: The case of Ryan and his partner
Ryan, a real estate agent in Arizona, and his partner each managed large Facebook groups, but in the fall of 2022, their accounts were disabled for 'suspicion of copyright infringement,' so they filed a small claims lawsuit against Meta.

Before the hearing, Meta told Ryan and others that they had 'terms of service, so Meta can delete people's accounts for any reason.' In the end, Ryan agreed to drop the lawsuit, following Meta's lawyers' insistence that they would help him recover his account. However, Meta explained that his partner's account had been 'completely deleted' and could not be restored.

Meta offered $3,500 as a settlement, the highest amount in Arizona for a small claims lawsuit, but Ryan and others were unhappy that they had potentially lost tens of thousands of dollars by having their Facebook accounts deactivated, and Meta refused to pay more, leaving Ryan and others with no choice.

'I was prepared to go ahead with the lawsuit, but no lawyer would be willing to take me without a $15,000 bond, and it just wasn't worth it,' Ryan said.

In response to inquiries from Engadget about these small claims lawsuits, Meta did not provide a direct response, but instead said, 'We know losing or regaining access to your account can be frustrating, and we're investing in preventing account breaches before they happen,' and 'Attackers are adapting to target the entire internet and trying to avoid being found on social media sites like ours.' 'To detect malicious activity and help protect potentially compromised users, Meta provides a channel for users to report account issues, works with law enforcement to take legal action against malicious attackers, and is constantly improving our support system.'