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Facebook Bug Deactivates Women's Accounts En Masse, ID Required to Restore Profiles

Facebook Bug Shutters Accounts
If you recently tried to log into Facebook, only to find out your account had been deactivated for being "inauthentic," you're not alone. Reports began circulating Tuesday morning of accounts being shut down en masse, and Facebook has now confirmed that a bug has been sweeping through its system, automatically disabling profiles. Oddly, it seems that almost all of those affected -- at least, according to quick perusal of complaints on Twitter -- appear to be women.

Facebook says it has identified and repaired the bug, and is now contacting affected users and reactivating those accounts. Facebook is requesting users send in scans or photos of government issued IDs with their name, date of birth and photo clearly visible in order to confirm their identity before turning back on the switch. While the Boy Genius Report understandably advises that users not follow these instructions (believing that the request is part of a scam or hack), we can confirm that this is in fact the method for reactivating disabled Facebook accounts. (For the record, we think it's really a terrible practice, one ripe for abuse and just begging to be exploited.) But, if you want your Facebook account back, you simply have no other choice at the moment.
Was your Facebook account disabled?
Yes3306 (27.8%)
No7245 (60.9%)
I'm not sure.1353 (11.4%)

Tags: bugs, facebook, facebook login, FacebookLogin, privacy, security, social networking, SocialNetworking, top, web

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