Rochelle Marinato, Managing Director of Pilates World Australia, recently received an email from Meta, the parent company of Instagram, advising her that her accounts had been suspended because an image that she posted had violated the community guidelines related to “child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.” It turns out that an image of three dogs (see below) had mistakenly been flagged by an AI-powered moderator, who confused the dogs for children. Rochelle appealed the decision, sending 22 emails to Meta, but received no help from the tech giant. The suspension of her accounts has had a serious financial impact on her business, with her revenue dropping by 75% in a matter of three weeks. “For a small business like us, social media is critical,” said Rochelle. Comparing her financial portfolio this year to last year, she estimates the error has cost her in the neighborhood of $50,000. Beyond the financial loss, Rochelle said she’s outraged by the implication behind the platform’s suspension notice. She said her story is just one of many involving faulty AI flagging, and that the problem is widespread. “You can’t reach a human at Meta. There’s no phone number, there’s no email, there’s nothing — you’re literally left in the dark,” said Rochelle. She is now working to get her business back up to speed.
