A few months ago, I created a Facebook page for ChatMystery. Just a small thing. We weren’t promoting anything, just occasionally sharing updates about the project as we built it.
Then came the big moment: our Early Access launch. I made a short post about it – just like I had before – and shared it from my personal profile. The post included a link to chatmystery.com. That was it.
And then, everything vanished.
My personal Facebook account was instantly blocked.
The ChatMystery page disappeared.
Even Messenger stopped working.
I wasn’t warned. I wasn’t given a reason, except a vague message saying I had violated Facebook’s “cybersecurity rules”. I was offered a single button to appeal. I clicked it.
Appeal denied. No further review available.
If I wanted to protest, Facebook said, I’d need to take them to court – in my home country.
🕵️ What actually happened?
I honestly don’t know. I didn’t break any rules that I’m aware of.
One possibility: when I bought the domain chatmystery.com, it was available – but it had been owned by others before me. At some point in its history, the domain was flagged by Fortinet as dangerous. Maybe it hosted something truly malicious years ago.
But today, chatmystery.com is just ours. It’s a small detective game made by two friends. We write stories. We build characters. That’s all.
🧭 What we lost
Aside from losing the Facebook page as a place to share updates, I lost:
- My personal Facebook account, including all contacts and old conversations.
- Messenger – my main channel of communication with some people.
- Access to other pages and communities I had followed for years.
But perhaps the worst part is the feeling.
That I’ve been punished, without ever being told what I did wrong.
That I’ve been erased, as if I committed something dangerous, when all I did was link to my own website.
I know Facebook has the right to remove users at will. I actually support that principle in theory. But this? This just feels… wrong.
We don’t know what’s next. I might not fight it.
But I wanted to tell someone. So here it is.
Thanks for reading.
— Vojta
