Finally, the time has come: Facebook has introduced an important novelty and those who weren’t prepared are finding themselves “locked out” of their account. It is therefore important to investigate the situation. Do not despair: the question can be resolved.
But first let’s take a step back: also according to what was reported by The Verge, in mid-March 2022 the company of Mark Zuckerberg began to “shut down” some users from their accounts. The reason is to be found in the new Facebook Protect security feature: the latter actually plays the role of two-factor authentication (2FA), implementing an additional layer of protection that requires the passage for SMS, an authentication app, or a physical security key.
In other words, we are trying to avoid “theft” of Facebook profiles as much as possible, requiring each potentially “suspicious” access to take a further step in terms of authentication. Previously, the social network had repeatedly warned users through official communications (for example, pop-ups that appear directly within the official app or e-mail). However, apparently, a good number of people have simply “avoided” these indications, in some cases perhaps thinking that they were “unofficial communications”.
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
In reality, everything comes from Facebook: in short, you would probably do well to activate Facebook Protect on your account, in order to have an additional degree of protection and avoid situations such as those that are occurring in this March 2022. For the rest, remember that Facebook had already announced that it would make 2FA mandatory for high-risk accounts, so the matter was in the air. For the rest, we recommend that you refer to our in-depth analysis on Facebook Protect for more details on the “news”.
In any case, if you find yourself with a “blocked” account, the social network will guide you to activate Facebook Protect. Once this is done, you can go back to using your profile. For the rest, we advise you to consult the official Facebook Protect guidelines for all the relevant information. Currently, there are also reports of confirmation SMS not arriving correctly and the like, but in that case, they are probably temporary problems.
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