GRANDVILLE, Mich. — A business owner in Kent County says he cannot reach potential customers during the company’s busiest time of the year after Facebook banned his account.
“They [Meta], instead of helping me, said, ‘Your account immediately is disabled,' said Joe Michelotti. “No questions asked, nothing you can do.”
Michelotti owns Five Star Painting of NE Grand Rapids.
He opened the franchise eight years ago and provides exterior and interior residential and commercial painting and staining services.
Like most small businesses in 2023, he relies on social media, specifically Facebook, to reach clients.
“I could probably count on at least one potential customer per week, potentially up to five per week, especially now, when it started getting warmer out,” said Michelotti.
However, two weeks ago, Michelotti’s personal account was disabled, which also locked him out of Five Star Painting’s account.
He notes that since Five Star Painting is a franchise. The franchiser auto-posts for him, but they cannot get into the account for him either.
Michelotti explains the issue started on March 22 when he bought his son a Meta Quest 2 for his 11th birthday.
“All his friends have them,” said Michelotti. “They get on, they have their little community. That's how they hang out, you know, they don't necessarily ride bikes together and play sports like I did when I was a kid.”
In order to use the virtual reality headset, it must be connected to a Facebook account.
Michelotti synced it to his, but ran into some problems with the setup so he sent an email to Meta’s support team and asked for assistance.
He instead received a message which said the social media company disabled his account for a terms of service violation.
“I couldn't believe it,” said Michelotti. “I really didn't think it was happening, so I just went to my Facebook account, [I tried to] get my kid to play his VR— Can't do it. It's blocked. It's a brick.”
According to Meta, no one under the age of 13 can use its VR systems due to greater risks of injury and other adverse effects.
Michelotti claims he did not know that until afterward.
He calls the ban harsh for a first-time offense.
Michelotti has tried to appeal the decision, but it has not worked thus far.
“It asks you to upload an ID to prove how old you are then once that uploads, you can send, [but] oops! You need to login into your Facebook account that’s disabled,” said Michelotti.
Michelotti’s account will be permanently deleted April 21.
FOX 17 contacted Meta on his behalf but has not heard back.
“It’s really the busy season for us,” said Michelotti. “I mean in particular this week, when it's almost warm enough to start painting outside, is when people are looking outside, looking at their house thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we've got to start painting. Where do we go?’”
Regardless of what happens, Michelotti hopes it serves as a warning to parents and anyone else.
“I mean, it's been hours worth of work and frustration,” said Michelotti. “Not to mention my kids' frustration.”
