[Draft: Money Matters, Aug 01 2019
Locked Out Of Facebook? Can I please reach a Human about this?
No. Here is Why, based on the ever valuable & interesting Statistics
Here, I am being conservative:
As of June 2019, there are 2.41 billion ‘active users’ (Define that though : ). 83 million of which are thought to be fake (but how?)
which though less than .03% has a disproportionate effect.
That’s also Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger which Facebook operates.
I am using the USA definition of Billion (1000 million not the UK a million million) AND This Calculator to help me.
1.6 billion of whom log on average once per day.
I’ll use the larger Active User figure, just cos I can.
Facebook has about 40,000 employees worldwide which means in its crudest form, one employee per 6000 ‘active accounts’ which log in an average of 20 minutes a day.
Facebook is “Free” for you and me. If Facebook is not a commodity you pay for, then, as they say, you ARE the commodity. You will be engaged and monetized with ads, etc, but no one can afford the slim margins spread over a vast array of users to talk to you personally even at third world rates of perhaps a dollar an hour for Facebook Tech Support.
So, much of the Security about fake accounts, hack attempts etc are managed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms that are constantly being tweaked to look for unusual behaviors or reports.
Machine Learning (Big at Google!) is a different beast and ‘learns’ from Past Experience of hacks… and its own simulations.
Such a strategy has had the oriental game “Go!” beat the world champion written by programmers who do not know how to even play “Go!”!
What to Humans do that machines have trouble doing?
If you have been Locked Out of your account you will find out.
You are liekly to persist through a number of means:
“Use your registered cell phone to get a code and verify it’s you”
Well– that avenue has been cracked by script hackers with bogus Texting Accounts online.
So the Text never gets delivered. So you try a few more times.
Then FB wants you to uplaod drvier’s license, etc, all of which can of course be done by machiens and faked… I could go on…
EVENTUALLY the algorithm may then pass on your dilemma in a link to an associate in the Phillipines who may review the site according to strict guidelines with FAcebook>>>
But, how did oyu get locked out in the first place?
- By an algorithm, automatically, it thought something did not look right
- Automatically, for the hell of it, kind of like an IRS audit without any particular triggers (1%!)
- Complaints. Legitimate or Otherwise– FB Does Not Care.
- Bogus Complaints by cyber saboteurs.
(Amazon experiences this!) - Your own failed Login attempts etc.My Advice? Persist and Move On!
- Consider the huge fines wages against FB and how they make money and why:
– their first obligation is to their shareholders
– Their revenue is threefold:
Targeted ads
Aggregated data
Personal Data. It’s this last one that got their wrist smacked with a $1B+ fine
Shareholder tried to get rid of Mark Zuckerberg but as he is a majority shareholder– they cannot