Notification of account removal

Last week, I received an ominous email with the subject line “Notification of Account Removal” from a company that I get podcasts from. “This is a note to alert you that your account has been removed, if you believe this action was taken in error, please contact us at this address”. My first thought was phishing, but this was also the second time I had received an email like this from this company. Something that I was doing was mistakenly triggering an automated system to flag the account (besides using an email alias, I cannot possibly think what else it would be). While I would have been okay just letting the account close, I was also curious if the support agent would have an explanation, and I was a little bit upset at the insinuation that I was doing something wrong. If I was doing something improperly, I also wanted to know so that I could correct it and stop causing them problems. After going through the process, no explanation was given, and instead of having the ability to restore the account, they just unlocked the email so that I could start fresh. In this instance, not a big deal, but if that account was actually important (on the level of an Apple ID or Google account for most people) I would have been pretty upset. It was a harsh lesson that we don’t actually control some of the biggest parts of our digital lives.

Reading over the terms and conditions, it is clear that users have absolutely no rights when it comes to their account. This isn’t company specific, it is boilerplate terms that will be on almost any service.

We can terminate or suspend your account at any time at our sole discretion. We can also cancel any membership subscriptions and remove any descriptions, posts, offerings, or benefits at our sole discretion. You may not bring a claim against us for suspending or terminating another person’s account, and you agree you will not bring such a claim. If you try to bring such a claim, you are responsible for the damages caused, including attorneys’ fees and costs. These terms remain in effect even if you no longer have an account.

On one hand, I do understand why this has to be in place. If a large company Facebook had to individually worry about negotiating each time they had to remove an account or content they would be paralyzed. The account exists on their servers, is associated with their brand and reputation, and they have various legal responsibilities to upload. On the other, it doesn’t feel great to be told that we have no agency in the process, even if we are able to prove that we are acting according to the rules. Even if the account removal is swift, there should be an appeals process so that in the cases where there are false positives, everything can be remedied.

This appeals process is often lacking, as was apparent in the story of Mark (no relation) and his Google account covered in the Times. Even after having the police on his side, Google still refused to budge. While not addressed in Google’s comment, part of me wonders if it was actually because they couldn’t get the account back, but didn’t want to publicly say that. I wonder if that was the same case with my account, the best they could do is unlock the email because the data was already gone. If that isn’t the case, I’m puzzled by the response in both cases.

Another way to potentially lose access to your account is when the company itself has an interest in using your account for its own purposes. When Twitter changed its branding to “X”, they wanted the “X” handle, so they just took it. The gifts offered to Gene were good PR, but they didn’t have to offer anything. The handle was always theirs. Or, more recently, X objected to the sale of InfoWars X accounts to TheOnion. Could similar objections be made in cases where bankruptcy is not a factor, such as one brand selling their accounts to another company as part of an acquisition? Time will tell, but not being able to count social media accounts as assets may seriously disrupt the overall valuation of many companies.

After following up with support further and providing information about my billing details and ISP, they unlocked the email associated with the account and left it at that. It could have been worse, they could have not responded, or the account could have remained suspended but the card still being charged erroneously. Overall, only a bit of time wasted, but I think I’ll just directly donate to the creators from now on.