A Georgia man who was permanently banned from Facebook because of alleged “child exploitation” just won a $50,000 lawsuit against the social media giant.
It all started one morning when Jason Crawford woke up and discovered that he’d been banned from the platform.
“I woke up one Sunday morning. I tapped on my Facebook icon, and I was locked out,” he told Atlanta station WAGA following his victory this week.
While he’d previously been suspended because of his fiery political takes, this time was different.
“They made it clear I was banned,” he explained.
Why was he banned? He wasn’t sure. All Facebook did is display a brief pop-up claiming he’d violated the social media network’s child exploitation rules.
“It just gave me the briefest snapshot of saying that I had violated their standards on child sexual exploitation. And then it went away,” he said.
The accusation was of course false, so Crawford decided to try to get in touch with someone at Facebook so that he could fix his account. But that didn’t exactly work.
“What I learned is the way you submit your appeal, or whatever, is through your own profile, your own account. If you don’t have an account, you have no way of submitting it, so it’s like a dog chasing its tail,” he said.
And so you can’t actually talk to anyone.
“I just think it’s bad business practice. It’s a crappy way to treat people. At least tell me what I did wrong,” Crawford added.
Left with no other options, he then “walked downtown to the nearby courthouse [from his office] and sued Meta.”
Hint: It turns out Crawford is himself a lawyer.
Filed in August of 2022, the lawsuit accused Facebook of being “negligent” for banning him from the platform “based on a violation that did not occur.”
“I had, I don’t even know how you quantify it, pictures, videos, posts that you know come up as memories that I like to look at from time to time. Ya know, all that kind of stuff that I wasn’t willing to let a bunch of bullies take away from me for no reason,” Crawford told station WAGA.
Here’s where the story takes an interesting turn: Facebook/Meta chose to not only ignore his concerns about his banned account but also the lawsuit itself.
“So, by default, Jason Crawford, a Columbus, Georgia lawyer, won. A judge ordered that Meta pay him $50,000,” WAGA notes.
“Defendant was properly served with process in this action in according with Georgia law. … Defendant has failed to respond thereto as required by law; this action has automatically become in default; Defendant has failed to open the default as a matter of right within 15 days of the day of each Defendant’s default; and default judgment is demanded against Defendant,” the ruling reads.
“Plaintiff’s injuries and damages, as hereinabove described, were directly and proximately caused by the negligence of Defendant. The Court concludes that Plaintiff has endured great mental pain since Facebook unjustifiably and unreasonably shut down his account and that his pain and suffering will likely continue. The Court further concludes that Plaintiff is entitled to just and adequate compensation for his injuries and for his past and future damages,” it continues.
Only then, after they had their butts handed to them, did Facebook finally call Crawford in an attempt to resolve his original dilemma.
“I felt a little bit vindicated, and they activated my account again,” he told the station.
And so he’s back online. But there’s more.
“He says he was told by a Facebook attorney that his account had been hacked. His name was cleared. He also added that had the company responded to him early on, he would’ve dropped the lawsuit. He was never in it for the money, just answers,” WAGA notes.
Yet the drama still isn’t quite over. Why? Because now Facebook is evidently refusing to fork over the $50,000 judgment.
“It feels like a poke in the eye, and it feels like they’re continuing to poke in the eye. Poke the local court system in the eye. Poke me in the eye. Poke other users in the eye, and it’s time that they at least respect our legal system,” Crawford said.
However, he vowed to station WAGA that he will get the $50,000 one way or another and stressed again that his account had been banned for “no valid reason.”
“Every step of the way Facebook is choosing not to do the right thing,” he said.
The outcome of Crawford’s lawsuit comes only a week or so after Massachusetts man Chad Jones was banned from Facebook for sharing a news article “excerpt” from a 1950s textbook.
‘Terrifying’: Man says he was banned from Facebook for sharing this news article ‘excerpt’ from 1950s textbook https://t.co/nNODDUoGmU pic.twitter.com/O6xuZlSghS
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 8, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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