Facebook group disabled: what to do, appeal form

Facebook offers the possibility to create groups where you can share and discuss different topics. However, it is necessary to comply with Facebook's guidelines to prevent your group from being blocked. Read on to learn more!

What is a disabled Facebook group?

Firstly, what does it mean when a Facebook group is disabled? On Facebook, a group being disabled simply means that you and the members of the group can no longer access it, or access any of the information previously shared within the group. For example, if your family's Facebook group has been disabled, you may be unable to recover any images that were shared within it.

Why is your Facebook group disabled?

The first reason why your Facebook group was disabled is that you may have breached any of the rules of Facebook's Policies for Pages, Groups, and Events. Here are the general policies to comply with:

• Prohibited Business Practices: You must not promote products, services, schemes, or offers using deceptive or misleading business practices, including those intended to scam people out of money or personal information.

• Impersonation: You must not impersonate or falsely represent a brand, entity, or public figure. If you are expressing support for or interest in a brand, entity, or public figure, it must be clear in the name or description that it is not an official representation.

• Gambling: You must not promote online gambling or gaming where anything of monetary value (including digital currencies) is required to play, and anything of monetary value forms part of the prize without Facebook's prior written permission.

• Inaccurately Tagged Content: You must not inaccurately tag content or encourage users to tag content inaccurately.

• Incentivization: You must not incentivize people to misuse Facebook features or functionality.

• Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment: You must not promote drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers that are misleading, engaging in practices that are harmful to patients, or otherwise violating applicable laws.

These policies are available in full on this page. Your group must also comply with Facebook's Terms of Service and Community Standards. Please read them carefully to understand why Facebook has disabled your group.

How to recover a disabled Facebook group

Admins have 30 days to appeal the decision of Facebook to disable a group. Once you have reviewed all of the conditions applicable to Facebook groups and are certain you have not violated any of them, you may appeal Facebook's decision by filling out the official form.

Note: You must first log in to your account to be able to access the form.

Otherwise, you can go to facebook.com/groups, select your group, and click on See details (next to the message saying that your group has been disabled). Follow the onscreen instructions and click Request review > Continue.

How long does it take for Facebook to review a disabled group?

Much like when Facebook reviews a blocked or disabled account, Facebook does not explicitly give a time limit or time frame for a Facebook review. Some users can find that their group has been reinstated relatively quickly after requesting a review, whereas others can wait weeks, even months, before a reply. Unfortunately, there is always the possibility that you receive no reply at all.