Facebook Just Deleted 10 Million Accounts & Yours Could Be Next

Facebook, the social media giant under Meta, has recently gone through one of its biggest cleanups ever—deleting over 10 million accounts in the first half of 2025. According to the company, most of these accounts were removed for impersonating creators, spreading spammy content, or artificially boosting engagement. On top of that, another 500,000 users were hit with penalties like reduced reach or demonetisation, without actually being banned.

Meta’s official line is that this whole effort is meant to make the platform better for original content creators. In a blog post from July 14, they wrote that creators “should be celebrated for their unique voices… not drowned out by copycats.” It sounds great on paper. But for a lot of everyday users, things haven’t gone smoothly at all.

Technical Glitch Caused Mass Confusion

Around late June, thousands of Facebook Groups were unexpectedly taken down, with admins receiving messages about supposed policy violations. The thing is—many of these groups were totally harmless. We’re talking pet lover communities, mom groups, even hobby pages for mechanical keyboards and budgeting tips.

Turns out, it was a technical error, something Meta later admitted. They claimed the issue came from a bug in their automated system. While some groups were restored within 48 hours, others stayed offline for days, and admins had to re-verify themselves just to get back in.

AI May Be the Real Culprit

Many users are now pointing fingers at Facebook’s heavy reliance on artificial intelligence. Over the years, Meta has leaned into automation for reviewing posts and moderating content. But when machines are calling the shots, even innocent stuff can be misinterpreted.

Some admins say their groups were flagged for things like “terrorism” or “nudity” when nothing like that was ever posted. One admin even joked their Pokémon fan page was “apparently too dangerous for Facebook.” Yikes.

Legitimate Users Are Losing Accounts

The real issue is that people who didn’t do anything wrong are losing access to their personal and business accounts, too. Some users say they were banned without warning and given no explanation. For small business owners or influencers, that’s not just annoying—it’s potentially damaging to their income.

Meta says that users typically get an email or see a notice when trying to log in, and they have 180 days to appeal before an account is permanently deleted. However, many say the appeal process is vague or just leads to dead ends.

Scammers Are Taking Advantage

As if that wasn’t enough, scammers are now trying to profit from the chaos. They’re pretending to be Facebook support, sliding into people’s DMs with offers to “fix” disabled accounts. Others are sending phishing emails that look legit but are designed to steal passwords or trick you into paying money for fake recovery services.

Experts warn: don’t trust random people offering help, no matter how convincing they sound. Facebook has made it clear that the only safe way to get help is through their official support page or app.

So What Should You Do If You’re Affected?

If your account or group got hit in the purge, here’s what you can do:

• For suspended Groups: Many have already been restored automatically. But if yours hasn’t, wait 48–72 hours before trying to appeal. Some appeals may actually slow things down if the issue was caused by the glitch.
• For disabled accounts: Check your login screen or email. If you’ve been given the option, start the appeal process ASAP. Just remember, the 180-day window is your only shot.
• And for scammers? Just don’t engage. Don’t click suspicious links, and definitely don’t pay anyone promising to recover your account.

While Meta’s cleanup aims to protect the platform from fakes and spam, the fallout from glitches and automation errors is frustrating a lot of real users. Millions of accounts were affected, and even if many of those were fake, some weren’t.

This shows the dangers of putting too much trust in automated systems without enough human oversight. If you’ve been affected, you’re not alone—and chances are, the problem might get fixed soon. Until then, stay cautious, appeal through official routes, and avoid scammers like the plague.