Here’s What The Founder of Gossip Mill Nigeria, Somto Monanu Posted on His Blog;
So on the 22nd of June 2016 I woke up to 2 emails from the Facebook team which read:
Hello,
Your Page “Gossip Mill Nigeria” has been removed for violating our Terms of Use. A Facebook Page is a distinct presence used solely for business or promotional purposes. Among other things, Pages that are hateful, threatening, or obscene are not allowed. We also take down Pages that attack an individual or group, or that are set up by an unauthorized individual. If your Page was removed for any of the above reasons, it will not be reinstated. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in the permanent loss of your account.
The Facebook Team
Hello,
Because of several prior reports that content on your Page (https://www.facebook.com/Gossip-Mill-Nigeria-229799260559929/) violates someone else’s intellectual property rights, this Page has been removed.
You can find further information about intellectual property issues in our Help Center:
https://www.facebook.com/help/intellectual_property
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
Shockingly, this Email did not come as a surprise to me as Gossip Mill Nigeria is practically the fastest growing Nigerian page on facebook and the most active as a matter of facts they are only 2 Pages with more Fans than us Naij with -3million fans and information Nigeria with 2.8million fans and for a while now we have been Victims of a series of senseless Copyright reports from disgruntled Fans and Competitors.
What these disgruntled fellows do is visit the facebook Copyright Report Centre create fake Emails and then file in a series of reports claiming to be the owners of videos or Photos we have permissions from the real owners to post, then facebook innocently takes down the videos thinking they are protecting the copyright of the content creator not knowing they are unknowingly doing the evil biddings of Mischief Makers.
After 3 or 4 copyright reports are lodged against your facebook page it will be deleted or Unpublished by Facebook both words actually mean the same thing.
Early this month these Mischief Makers Created a fake Email and Reported a couple of Mark Angel Comedy series videos and some other videos.
I then called Mark Angel and he Categorically told me he never filed any copyright report and that another popular African facebook page named We African Nations was also experiencing a similar Problem.
I Immediately contacted the facebook team Back by sending a
Copyright Counter Complaint: #130114570721513 :
Explaining to them that i had permissions from the content creators of the video posted, The videos where then reinstated what was not clear to me was whether it was reinstated by the facebook team or the Person who reported it but that did not actually matter as the damage had already been done as facebook had already placed a 30days ban on my page the instant the videos where initially deleted, I was under this 30days ban but still the Copyright reports kept on pouring in till the Page was eventually Deleted.
I respect the fact that facebook Protects the copyright of a content creator but then they leave we the Facebook Page Owners vulnerable as anyone with access to this link ”Copyright Report Centre” can come to your facebook page and delete any Photo or video he or she feels like deleting, And facebook will not carry out any proper investigation before deleting your page.
Something similar happened to sowore of SaharaReporters a while back Read it on Here or Here.
The Painful Reality is if whoever reported the passport reports one or two more articles on SR’s facebook Page, Facbook will take it down not even bothering to properly investigate what actually transpired.
Does this mean no matter the amount of fans you have on facebook your page is completely Worthless and can be deleted at anytime by facebook?
Well i then embarked to find answers to this question on the internet and the results i saw was shocking as this kind of Malicious act has been happening for a while now see other similar stories.
Redmond Pie’s 240k Facebook Page Taken Down On Bogus Complaint [UPDATE: We’re Back!]
Neowin’s Facebook page taken offline – We’re Back! (Again)
Facebook Deletes Sitesells Facebook Page
Well i then visited the facebook help centre and saw a channel on ”Why Your Page or Content Was Removed”
Facebook is not in a position to adjudicate disputes between third parties. If you believe these reports are not being made in good faith or are inaccurate, we suggest you or your legal counsel contact the complaining party to discuss this further.
Facebook literally leaves you at the mercy of anyone who decides to wake up one morning and file A Copyright report against you i was even lucky they replied me once (As shown in my Above screenshots) Because i have been trying to contact them back ever since but i keep getting automated Mails or no response at all, Still can not find a way to get to an Actual human being at facebook.
Anyone with any useful information on how i can get through to the facebook team can reach me on my Phone number +234 7059938925 or email [email protected]
~ Somto Monanu.
