I loathe the meta

[94touring]

And people or robots or AI. Whoever it was that decided my rental listing on Zuckerface marketplace was discrimatory.

Even my request to have my banned ad reviewed was immediately rejected...even though due to covid 19 it might take them awhile.   

Here's how crazy my ad is. 

[cstudep]

I loathe "social media" in general for many reasons, but it is this sort of nonsense that's the most aggravating. They cant even be bothered to tell you how exactly your ad violated their "terms" your just supposed to be able to figure it out via the super broad policy they have posted somewhere that even lawyers can't figure out most of the time.

[BruceK]

WHAT?!   

Are they trying to say you put your ad in the wrong category? Like it was appearing in something other than their narrowly defined place for real estate offerings? That's kind of what I'm thinking. And somehow it's discriminatory because not everyone will find it wherever the ad is currently sitting?!  I have no idea. 

Of course, I'm also thinking that Meta is the most evil corporation ever. And the public's apparent move from Craigslist (which wasn't perfect, but it worked) to Facebook marketplace is a complete disaster.

I'm guessing the review process is done by idiots. Or AI. And that it's completely binary: meaning it either 100% passes some arbitrary metric, or it doesn't and if it doesn't, it simply gets flagged and either an idiot or AI is the one responding to the review process. 

[94touring]

It's in the real estate rental section.  Also all it takes is one person to click "flagged for inappropriate" whatever.

[94touring]

I copied and pasted the same ad and it was approved. Shows how dumb it is.

[MiniDave]

Sheesh....what a PITA. So, get any calls yet?

[94touring]

There's been a fair amount of interest.

[BruceK]

It's in the real estate rental section.  Also all it takes is one person to click "flagged for inappropriate" whatever.

Ah. And of course, the idiots at Meta must just rubberstamp any content that comes up as inappropriate. Lovely.

Honestly, I have sold and purchased a few things through Facebook marketplace and I continue to be shocked about how absolutely shitty the experience is as a seller and as a buyer.  It's like the wild West out there and FB takes no effort to improve the experience.   

[94touring]

It's the first time I've ever listed anything on it. I use furnished finder for traveling professionals, usually healthcare, but it's slow season so thought I'd advertise on FB. I've had maybe 15-20 reach out this week, all saying the same thing....is this still available?  A few make appointments to view it and then cancel. A couple actually show up. One I didn't respond to because I didn't like their personal profile as someone I'd rent to. I'm probably discriminatory towards tatted up biker types renting my feminine studio aimed towards nurses. 

[BruceK]

Found this news article explaining how Meta tolerates fraud because it generates revenue. What a great company. 

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-tolerates-rampant-ad-fraud-china-safeguard-billions-revenue-2025-12-15/


And a Reuters reporter also created scam ads on purpose to test Meta's response.  Of course Meta provided assistance to help with the scam. 

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/metas-trusted-experts-helped-me-run-scam-ads-facebook-instagram-2025-12-15/


Think back 20 years ago when newspapers were a thing.  Can you imagine a team from your local newspaper offering to help you create your scam advertisement just so they could generate some revenue?

[MiniDave]

I've bought and sold stuff off of FB Marketplace and Craigs, never had any issues with either. Yes, on FB you do get lots of those "is this still available" responses, but I always answer "yes" and then ignore them till someone actually responds with a question.

I've had stuff I put on Craigslist and forgot about when it didn't sell, only to have someone pop up weeks or months later and ask if I still have it, then hotfoot over and pay up, happy as clams! 

I've put stuff on Craigslist Free section only to have people ask me to deliver it, hold it etc.....but usually it's gone before I know it and I have to scramble to get the ad back out before someone complains.

I had a guy complain that he came to get something I put out for free and it was gone - the ad had only been up 10 minutes at that point!