PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A Phoenix medical spa owner had her business and personal social media accounts restored after they were falsely suspended for alleged child sexual exploitation violations.<\/p>\n
Lavaya Pristo, who owns a medspa in central Phoenix, discovered her Instagram and Facebook accounts had been permanently disabled when friends and clients began asking if she was still in business.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, are you still in business? I see your Instagram, all your social media is gone,\u201d Pristo said clients told her. \u201cSo I got on, looked and everything just says user not found.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pristo performs cosmetic procedures including botox and chemical peels at her spa. She said Instagram is invaluable for her business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI post a lot of information, a lot of education, a lot of procedures. And that brings my clientele, you know, as well as messaging through Instagram,\u201d Pristo said.<\/p>\n
Accounts suspended for child exploitation allegations<\/p>\n
Messages from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, showed her accounts were suspended, appealed and denied within minutes during the night. The reason shocked her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was violating child sexual exploitation, which instantly gave me like a panic, because I was like, oh my gosh, there\u2019s no way,\u201d Pristo said.<\/p>\n
Pristo said there was nothing inappropriate on her pages. With her business accounts gone, clients assumed her spa had shut down and business slowed significantly. The issue even spread to Yelp, which mistakenly listed her spa as permanently closed.<\/p>\n
Nationwide problem affects businesses<\/p>\n
Pristo researched the problem and found stories from across the country of businesses facing the same issue with their pages disabled and accused of child sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that it made me feel better, but I was like, okay, something\u2019s going on. It\u2019s not, it\u2019s not me. But it has been a nightmare. It\u2019s been a nightmare. You can\u2019t contact Meta,\u201d Pristo said.<\/p>\n
Unable to fix the problem herself, Pristo contacted On Your Side. The news team contacted Meta and explained the situation. Meta said they would look into Pristo\u2019s account and almost immediately restored her pages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you guys did, within hours, everything was back up. Got an email saying \u2018you\u2019re good,\u2019\u201d Pristo said.<\/p>\n
All of Pristo\u2019s content returned along with her followers, who were relieved to see she is still in business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad I contacted you and the results were so fast. Like, you guys responded to me so fast and got my results so fast that it was \u2014 I mean, it was amazing,\u201d Pristo said.<\/p>\n
It appears likely a hacker gained access to Pristo\u2019s account and posted inappropriate content that triggered the suspension. Once Meta determined it wasn\u2019t her, they restored her account.<\/p>\n
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