Summarised by Centrist
Small Business Minister Chris Penk has secured a new appeals channel for New Zealand firms whose Facebook and Instagram accounts have been wrongly suspended.
RNZ reported more than 30 cases of small businesses being locked out of their accounts, some accused of posting child exploitation material.
Many said they were stonewalled by Meta’s automated appeals system, left dealing with bots instead of people. A global petition has attracted over 40,000 signatures demanding accountability.
Penk said after meeting Meta executives in New Zealand and Australia, the company admitted its AI-based moderation had “cast too wide a net” and suspended more accounts than it should have. Meta did not provide numbers but acknowledged innocent users had been caught up.
Following the talks, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has created a dedicated inbox, small.business@mbie.govt.nz, where affected companies can send appeals. These will be passed to Meta for review, with Penk insisting real people assess them.
“The socially responsible attitude of a platform such as Meta is to seek to put right the wrongs, and I’m hopeful that’s exactly what’s taking place,” he said, though he cautioned time will tell if Meta delivers.
For now, the new system is limited to small businesses, with around 20 staff or so, though Penk suggested it could be extended to individuals if successful.
