Source: India Today
Reports from Friday, March 18, specify many Facebook users not being able to access their accounts since the previous day. It turns out, the social media platform is locking out some of its customers since March 17. These users had to fulfil the requirement to activate the Facebook protect with two-factor authentication by the deadline of March 17.
Users, getting their accounts locked, received a notification on the page. The alert urged them to switch on the ‘Facebook Protect’ if they wanted to unlock their Facebook account. It further read that the accounts were locked on Thursday, March 17, 2022. The platform informed the users that it had taken this step keeping their privacy and safety in mind. As soon as the user would enable additional security measures, Facebook would remove the lock it had placed.
I got locked out from Facebook indefinitely today because I didn’t respond to emails from FB (that looked like a scam) about its new Facebook Protect system, which I was required to enable by today. So far, the text and security key options don’t work, many report. pic.twitter.com/0aXbiqzLv7
— Liv. (@Olivia_Thiessen) March 18, 2022
However, certain users found themselves locked out of their accounts despite having enabled the additional security feature. These users found themselves locked out of their Facebook accounts on Friday. Other users were also locked out, who had not even requested the feature of Facebook Protect. On the other hand, many appeared to experience tech-related issues involving getting codes sent to their phones.
Dear @FacebookApp: Your new Facebook Protect, which I didn’t ask for, keeps texting me an identical two-factor verification code, which continues to not work. I’m now effectively locked out of my account. This is heightened security? Guess I’ll spend more time on Twitter… @Meta
— Mike Morrell (@RealMikeMorrell) March 18, 2022
What is the ‘Facebook Protect’ feature on the platform?
In December 2021, Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms announced its new protection feature. The social media giant specified that they would initiate more requirements for users at a higher risk. These users would be required to secure their accounts using the two-factor authentication. This step would ensure better safety and privacy of accounts on the platform.
The feature of this ‘Facebook Protect’ is mainly offered to users of a higher profile on the social media platform. These high-profile users refer to human rights activists, government officials, journalists, etc on Facebook. Additionally, those users that have a following of greater reach, and who might be more more vulnerable to hacking attempts. Hackers often find users like these to be an easy target on the network. By December last year, about 1.5 million accounts on the social media platform had enabled the Facebook Protect feature. Currently, Meta is yet to respond to requests for a comment on the suspected glitch of its security feature.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I got locked out from Facebook indefinitely today because I didn’t respond to emails from FB (that looked like a scam) about its new Facebook Protect system, which I was required to enable by today. So far, the text and security key options don’t work, many report. <a href=”https://t.co/0aXbiqzLv7″>pic.twitter.com/0aXbiqzLv7</a></p>— Liv. (@Olivia_Thiessen) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Olivia_Thiessen/status/1504825280229253120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>