In The Beginning

When all this started, I'd had my current website, scramblebot.com, for a couple of years but hadn't done much with it. It had a JavaScript tool that I had put together, but I wasn't doing anything with it.

I figured it was long past time to do something with it, so I decided to put together a give away to build an email list. I didn't have a product to sell (I still don't.), but my past experience told me that if I wanted to sell something online, I was going to need an email list.

Since I had already been telling people I sometimes chat with online about different tool they could use to protect their privacy, I figured a give-away related to stuff I was already doing would be a good start; so I put together a paper that was intended to introduce people to a few privacy tools.

It could use a few finishing touches, but I believe the information is still useful; for the intended audience. If you have privacy concerns, and you'd like to find out about a few tools that you can use to improve your privacy online, you can find it here.

Just when I thought I had the ball rolling, I heard the first rumblings of the Facebook advertising gods.

Some time back, I had run a thought it would be a good idea to run an indigogo campaign to get funds for an experiment I wanted to try with bitcoin, and thought it would be a good idea to advertise for it on Facebook.

I don't know why they shut it down, but it didn't take long for them to do so. When they did, they also suspended my ad account.

Since the indigogo thing was just to raise funds to test something I was curious about, I didn't want to jump through the hoops of getting my ad account restored.

They wanted me to fill out some online form, and upload a scanned image of my photo ID. I wanted to show them my middle finger. I figured that if they wanted my money, they wouldn't have made continuing to work with them such a pain in the ass.

It was time to jump through their hoops.

After I had the give-away ready, I thought I'd go ahead and do what Facebook wanted me to do to get my ad account ussuspended. What they wanted wasn't particularly onerous. I was just irritated that they'd shut me down; for what seemed like no reason.

Since Facebook ads seemed easier to work with than Google Adwords, I thought I'd try them first. So I submitted their form, uploaded my ID, and waited.

I did this four times over the period of a few months; with no response from Facebook; until time after the fourth attempt.

Some time after the fourth attempt, a support inbox appeared, and it it said there was a message for me. (It's possible that the support inbox had already been there, and I just didn't notice it until then.)

The message thanked me for submitting my information, and said Facebook would look into it, and get back to me. So I waited.

I waited for about two, maybe three, months; with no response from Facebook. At this point, I figure that if they were going to re-enable my account they would have done so, but I went to the support inbox, and used the option to send additional information as a means to ask what was going on.

This time they responded within minutes.

I call bullshit with that response. There was nothing wrong with my payment method.

The "guidelines" mentioned, was a bunch of blah blah about using an antivirus program, and how to avoid phishing messages.

The steps mentioned in that screenshot were to resubmit the same form that I had already submitted four times, and upload a scanned image of my photo ID; which I had also done four times.

They sent the response, and closed the ticket.

As you might expect, I was a bit peeved at this point.

Since there was an option to reopen the ticket, I did so, and I sent them the following message:

The only steps I see are to answer the same set of questions I have already answered several times, and resubmit a scan of my ID that I have already submitted 4 times over the past few months.

The ticket system says they are attached to this ticket, so I don't know what good another scan of the same ID will do. (5th time's a charm?)

It was shut down when I ran an ad for an indigogo campaign some time ago, but I didn't start trying to get it fixed until a few months ago; because I didn't have a need to do so.

What do I have to do to appease the facebook advertising gods?

I pray to them nightly. I put on the the ritual clogs and the consecrated chaps. Then I do the voodoo booty ritual as I sing them the song of my people. Still they do not hear my prayers.

They didn't respond right away, but this time it didn't take them several months.

It seems that, not only are the Facebook advertising gods capricious, they also have no sense of humor.

I don't know what kind of suspected fraudulent activity they are referring to in the message.

There was nothing wrong with my payment method, I wasn't doing anything deliberately deceptive or dishonest, and as far as I'm aware, I wasn't breaking any of Facebook's rules.

My best guess is, they dislike my politics; and in line with the reputation they have begun to develop; they have chosen to censor me.