Guide · EU, EEA & UK · last verified
Ask Meta why, in writing.
If you are in the EU, EEA or UK, data-protection law gives you a free right to see the data Meta holds about you, including information about how a decision about you was made. It will not restore an account by itself, but it creates a dated legal obligation and a record a regulator can act on. For the DSA complaint and the other certified out-of-court bodies, see locked out of Facebook or Instagram.
1. Send the access request
- EU and EEA: address it to Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, FAO: Privacy Operations, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Ireland, which is the data controller for EU and EEA accounts.
- UK: since 25 April 2023 the controller for UK accounts is Meta Platforms, Inc., not Meta Ireland (Meta’s notice). Address it to Meta Platforms, Inc., ATTN: Privacy Operations, 1 Meta Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, and cite the UK GDPR.
- Send it through Meta’s privacy rights request form and keep a screenshot of the confirmation.
- Ask for your data, the specific policy relied on, the content or behaviour concerned, and whether the decision was automated (Article 15(1)(h)). The kit drafts this for you.
- Never include a password or login code. Meta may ask you to verify who you are; give only what identifies you.
2. Watch the clock
Under Article 12(3), Meta must answer within one month of receiving the request. It can extend by two further months for complex or numerous requests, but must tell you within the first month. Log the date you sent it in the deadline tracker.
3. If Meta ignores you or answers partly
- EU: complain to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (Meta’s lead EU regulator) or to your own national authority (list of authorities). Regulators generally expect you to have contacted the company first, so attach your request and any reply. The DPC cannot award compensation (DPC FAQ); that takes a court claim. Published DPC amicable-resolution records include cases where Meta reversed a disabled account after the DPC raised it (for example this October 2023 record).
- UK: complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
4. Rejected moderation appeal in the EU?
Under the Digital Services Act, users based in the EU can ask a certified out-of-court body such as Appeals Centre Europe to review a Facebook, Instagram or Threads decision made in the last 6 months. It is free to users, but its decisions are not binding on Meta.
Check its scope first: it does not take suspensions for fake or automated behaviour, coordinated networks, ban evasion or spam, suspensions of linked accounts, identity-verification cases, hacked accounts or impersonation (ACE FAQs). Many disabled business accounts fall into one of these.
Its May 2026 transparency report (April 2025 to March 2026) says that of more than 5,000 eligible account-suspension disputes, fewer than 150 were decided after the platform shared the content; the rest were decided by default. Cases averaged 65 days. Run it alongside the access request, not instead of it. There is no equivalent for UK users.
Sources
Last verified .
- GDPR (EU) 2016/679: Art. 12(3) time limits, Art. 12(5) and 15(3) fees, Art. 15(1)(h) automated decisions, Art. 22.
- Meta privacy rights requests and the ICO register entry for Meta Platforms Ireland (Merrion Road address).
- Meta: updates to terms and privacy policies in the UK (controller change, 25 April 2023) and the Meta Privacy Policy (Privacy Operations, 1 Meta Way).
- DPC: will I get any money? and DPC amicable-resolution record (16 October 2023).
- Appeals Centre Europe FAQs and transparency report, May 2026.
LockoutCase is a self-help tool, not a law firm, and not a substitute for the advice of a lawyer.