I tried to build a WhatsApp bot. Meta banned me before it left the drawing board
Part of most people’s learning curve when they start coding is trying projects that, with luck, might become useful to themselves and others. In May I wanted to get a better handle on the WhatsApp API. I set up my local environment, logged into Meta’s developer platform and started poking around.
I grabbed a test number the platform provided, sent a “Hello World” and tried a few basic commands for the architecture I was sketching. A few weeks later I had to set the project aside.
When I tried to pick it up again a few weeks ago, I was alarmed by the message on Meta’s developer page:
Clicking the support link led to another message saying my developer account had been suspended under “Platform Term 7.e.i.3.” The document reads:
You created or maintained Apps to circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, our monitoring actions (which may include creating or maintaining Apps to circumvent any restrictions or monitoring we make on your other Apps or account due to a violation of our terms and policies).
I was surprised by the message because:
- I didn’t receive any email warning about the suspension or asking me to make adjustments.
- I had no chance to understand why my app, in a development environment, violated any platform term.
I filled out the appeal form, but it seems to lead nowhere. There’s no indication of any timeframe for a human or system to review my request, for example. Each day the form reopens so I can submit a new request, with the previous day’s appeal shown just below.
One field on the form asks: “Did you make the necessary changes? Explain the changes you made to comply with this Platform Term.” The irony is that I can’t make any changes because I’m locked out of the platform, and my app is in a development environment (i.e., unpublished, not available to anyone at all).
Dozens of others are in the same jam and there are no reports of successful account reinstatements. Take developer João Filipe, who told me his account was also suspended and that he sent at least 15 review requests to Meta. According to him, the support page deletes appeals as if he’d never submitted them.
Filipe runs a company and lost access to his company’s app. Although the app keeps working, only people who work with him can access the development resources. He believes he would have lost his business otherwise.
Another side effect of the suspension is losing access to the Conversions API for ads on Facebook and Instagram.
On Reddit at least three separate threads report the exact same situation.
On Meta’s own developer community there are multiple posts without any response from company representatives for months. I even found similar reports on LinkedIn.
Beyond the frustration of being unable to move a project forward, there’s a feeling of powerlessness when rules are unclear and there’s no real channel for contact. Meta owns the Brazil’s most popular app but offers developers the opposite of transparency. I tried hard to find a way to speak to a human, without success.
What was supposed to be an attempt to build something cool turned into a reminder of how relying on the goodwill of a colossal platform like Meta exposes a fragility in the ecosystem the internet depends on. And a bitter taste of injustice — after all, I can’t say I violated any term or did anything wrong.
I contacted Meta’s press office for a statement but received no reply.