Alameda Co. candidate suspended from Meta accounts before June primary: 'I feel silenced'

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (KGO) -- A candidate for the Alameda County Board of Education says he was blocked from reaching voters on social media.

He says Meta disabled his campaign Facebook page a month before the June 2 primary.

"Having my voice taken away is a violation of my freedom of speech... and it's a violation of the electoral process... That's dangerous," Mark Harvey said.

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For weeks, he had no idea why -- or how -- to get it back. So he called 7 On Your Side to fix it, as the election is less than two weeks away.

So what happened?

Castro Valley resident Mark Harvey is passionate about education. The father of four is running for a seat on the Alameda County Board of Education.

"The goal for me is, let's help the kids in Alameda County get a good education," Harvey said.

The Republican grassroots candidate says social media ads helped him connect with voters... until all his Meta accounts went dark on May 2, a month before the election.

"I couldn't get into Facebook, so I turned on my laptop and saw that I had two emails from Meta, Facebook. The first one said that my account was suspended and that I could appeal," Harvey said.

The first email states: "Mark, you have 30 days to take action" or appeal.

But he says two minutes later...

"The next email came saying there is no appeal process. You're disabled," Harvey said.

"What was your reaction?" 7 On Your Side's Stephanie Sierra asked.

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"Shock!" Harvey said.

Harvey says Meta provided no clear explanation or way to appeal. He lost his personal Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger accounts, too.

"I feel like they've silenced me," Harvey said. "I just see it as campaign interference. I mean, I've called it what it is."

"Was there anything on your page that could have caused this?" Sierra asked.

"Nothing that I can imagine," Harvey said.

Meta says it has a strict ad authorization process, including ID verification and two-factor authentication. The tech giant says repeated violations can lead to permanent restrictions.

"They gave me the green light," Harvey said.

According to Harvey, he followed all the rules, got approved and was charged for running his ads, many involving collages showing photos of local businesses that support him.

"For people who know me, I keep it light, bright and polite online. My campaign was never negative. I don't post negative things online," Harvey said.

Harvey says he spent weeks trying to reach Meta customer service with no success.

"There's essentially no way to get through to them," Harvey said.

So he called 7 On Your Side.

"Within 10 minutes, I got a phone call from 7 On Your Side, which was astounding," Harvey said.

After Stephanie Sierra contacted Meta, the company restored his all his account within 20 minutes of the interview, except WhatsApp, which was reinstated on Thursday.

"I just think 7 On Your Side seems to have a heart and seems to be the group that gets things done," Harvey said.

The question is: Why did his accounts get banned in the first place?

Harvey says after his accounts were restored, he noticed two random people listed as ad account admins on his campaign page.

"I have no idea who they are!" Harvey said. "And when I click to remove users, it says I don't have access to do that."

Meta could not confirm exactly why the account was suspended but told 7 On Your Side it may have been caused by a procedural error during account setup.

7 On Your Side has received dozens of complaints from Meta users over the past year alleging unfair account suspensions. Some users describe they were suddenly locked out of their accounts due to "violating community standards" or "inappropriate material," citing reasons such as "child sexual exploitation" -- allegations the viewers deny and say that Meta refused to cite the posts in question.

According to Meta, once an account is flagged, a thorough investigation follows to determine whether the page is in violation. However, some tech experts have raised questions about whether Meta's AI moderation or security systems are detecting suspicious or rule-violating activity, even if it is not intentional.

Meta does not have a direct number to call, but it has posted an account "recovery hub" to help consumers problem-solve online.

Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.

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