Jason Crawford, Columbus, Georgia man wins lawsuit against Facebook after the outlet banned him and locked him out of his account, denying him access to photos and other memories.
A Georgia man has won a lawsuit he filed against Facebook after the social media behemoth locked the man out of his account and refused to gain him access so he could retrieve images and previous connections.
During his court filing, Jason Crawford explained been banned from the tech platform and unable to log on.
‘I woke up one Sunday morning. I tapped on my Facebook icon, and I was locked out,’ the Columbus, Georgia, based lawyer said of the August, 2022 fracas.
‘A dog chasing its own tail…’
He says his Facebook account had been suspended before over his fiery take on politics, but this was different.
‘They made it clear I was banned,’ he said.
He said he only got a quick pop-up that lasted a second, maybe, that said he had violated 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,’ Crawford told FOX5.
Seeking to remedy the situation, Crawford tried to find someone at Facebook to talk to find out what was going on – only to find (as most of us already know) he couldn’t find a human to speak to.
‘What I learned is the way you submit your appeal, or whatever, is through your own profile, your own account,’ he said. ‘If you don’t have an account, you have no way of submitting it, so it’s like a dog chasing its tail.’
‘It was as if I didn’t exist and Facebook was operated by a bunch of ghosts or something,’
So the lawyer took matters in his own hands and sued the tech giant.
Facebook is owned by Meta Platforms, and it also runs Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta employs more than 80,000 people.
‘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 told FOX5.
The August 2022 complaint calls Facebook ‘negligent’ for no longer allowing him access to his account ‘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,’ he told FOX5.
Then he waited. Waited for a call. Someone to clear up this false allegation and give him his account back. But nothing happened.
‘It was as if I didn’t exist and Facebook was operated by a bunch of ghosts or something,’ Crawford said.
Not only did Facebook’s legal team ignore him, they also ignored the lawsuit. The company didn’t even bother responding to it. So, by default, Jason Crawford, a Columbus, Georgia lawyer, won. A judge ordered that Meta pay him $50,000.
That’s when they called.
‘I felt a little bit vindicated, and they activated my account again,’ he said.
Jason Crawford is back online. 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.
But it’s still not over. He claims Facebook is not paying the 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 explained.
Crawford maintains he will continue to fight and that he will get that $50,000 the court says he’s owed because Facebook ‘terminated’ his account for ‘no valid reason.’
Crawford says he’s owed the money for being ignored.
Adding, ‘Every step of the way Facebook is choosing not to do the right thing.’
