What Does Facebook Send You When You're Flagged?

By Editorial Team

Updated September 09, 2022

If you feel you were unjustly banned, send an appeal.
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As a well-established social network, it's especially important for Facebook to have a system that keeps its members safe and prevents spam and abuse. You agree to Facebook's terms of service when you sign up, but you also have the ability to flag any content that breaks any rules. If one of your posts gets flagged on Facebook, you may get an email from them telling you what happened and what repercussions you face.

Learn Facebook's Reporting Process

When a post is flagged, it must first go through Facebook's process, as they describe. Facebook's staff won't punish someone without making sure that the report is legitimate, so every report is investigated. If the staff find that the reported content does not break their terms of service or any other guidelines, the report is discarded, no action is taken and no email is sent to you. If it is a legitimate report, the notification and email you receive differs depending on the infraction and consequence.

Understand Facebook Account Status Warnings

Minor infractions often result in a simple warning or a temporary block. Facebook lets you know that a post you made was against their terms of service and that the post has been deleted. If the problem is something like sending inappropriate messages or an app sending too many requests, the warning differs accordingly. The emails are not specific about the guideline that was broken; this is to ensure you read all the guidelines to avoid future problems.

A full account status warning will be placed on your account if any further rule-breaking will result in your account being closed. This is a yellow triangular warning sign, as UG Tech Mag explains, and is a more serious form of having your Facebook flagged.

When Facebook Disables Accounts

Some infractions are serious enough to warrant your account being disabled completely. These include using a fake name, impersonating someone else, harassment, abuse or continuing something after being warned to stop. Generally you receive an email notifying you of this decision, but in some cases Facebook's staff may deem the infraction too severe to restore your account. In this case, you may not receive an email. You will not know that your account is disabled until you attempt to log in.

Appeal the Decision

If you receive a yellow account status warning, you can try to appeal the decision. Click your profile picture in the top right of the screen, and choose "Help and Support" then "Report a Problem." Select "Something Went Wrong"and then choose "Profile" from the drop-down list. Describe the problem, with a screenshot of the warning if you can provide one.

UG Tech Mag recommends writing something like, "Dear Facebook Team, I am requesting you to please remove the warning message from my Facebook account. I have familiarized myself with the terms of service and will not break any more policies. Thank you."

If your account is disabled, you may have the option to appeal the decision and explain why you believe your account was banned unjustly. You can do this either from the email you received when your account was disabled, or by following the link that displays when you attempt to log in. If Facebook doesn't agree to reinstate your account, you may have to create a replacement.

Fact Checking Flags

Facebook may also flag your content for misleading information, as Social News Desk describes. This isn't the same as having your Facebook account flagged, but it will reduce the visibility of the offending post and it may be accompanied by a correction. You can also appeal these decisions if you think it was unfair.

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