If you’ve been Locked Out because you didn’t turn on Facebook Protect, You’re Not Alone

Early in March, a bunch of Facebook users got a mysterious, spam-like email titled “Your account requires advanced security from Facebook Protect” and telling them that they were required to turn on the Facebook Protect feature (which they could do by hitting a link in the email) by a certain date, or they would be locked out of their account.

Unfortunately, Facebook did a really poor job of sharing this important news. The email that Facebook sent from the address security@facebookmail.com resembled a rather common form of spam, and so it’s probable that many people ignored it.

It actually wasn’t spam. In fact, it was real. The first deadline to hit for many people was Thursday, March 17th. And now, they are locked out of their Facebook accounts — and are having trouble with the process that Facebook has provided to get them back in.

The program, according to Facebook, is a “security program for groups of people that are more likely to be targeted by malicious hackers, such as human rights defenders, journalists, and government officials.” It’s meant to do things like ensure those accounts are monitored for hacking threats and that they are protected by two-factor authentication (2FA).

Those who did not activate Facebook Protect before their deadline are apparently getting a message explaining why they can’t get into their accounts and offering to help them turn it on. But here’s the rub: it’s not always working.

There have also have been a variety of complaints on Twitter and other social networking venues that people are being locked out of their accounts even if they do have the appropriate safeguards. Some say that their text-based 2FA is simply not working. Others complained that they couldn’t get through the activation process even before the deadline and so are effectively locked out of their accounts.

So much for the “protect” aspect of the feature.

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