Anyone who professionally sends messages to Facebook groups uses so-called bots -fake accounts that they use to post. And these accounts are periodically banned.
By "ban," we mean the so-called "checkpoint." The page https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/?next that Facebook displays when you log in to your account.
Occasionally, this page prompts you to confirm your email or phone number, but in the vast majority of cases, this leads to account loss.
To be fair, the internet is full of complaints about Facebook banning completely legitimate accounts, not just bots, in this way, but we won't be looking at such cases.
Of course, the exact algorithms by which Facebook bans an account are known only to Facebook programmers, but we can draw some conclusions based on our many years of experience working with Facebook post automation programs, our experiments, and surveys with our clients.
Facebook likely assigns a certain number of points to each factor it deems to be a violation.
For example:
• If the account has an IP address that has previously been used for multiple violations, the score is 50.
• A device that has already committed multiple violations – 30 points.
• A mismatch between the IP address and the Facebook account country – 20 points.
and so on...
As soon as the sum of all violation points exceeds the maximum value set by Facebook, for example, 100, the account is banned.
Moreover, older accounts obviously have a higher maximum value for potential violation points than newly registered ones, and the likelihood of banning older accounts is lower. Of course, the point values for each violation are hypothetical.
However, Facebook's ban system is generally fairly straightforward.
And we must take it into account to minimize the likelihood of our accounts being banned.
What criteria does Facebook use to block accounts?
1. The IP address used to log into Facebook.
I'd like to point out right away that Facebook detects the use of a proxy server.
I won't go into technical details, but our research has confirmed this.
If you're using a VPN, this is technically impossible to determine.
Facebook can use the IP address to obtain precise geographic information about that address (country, city, even the region).
Facebook also determines the type of IP address, whether it's residential (owned by a specific provider), mobile, server, corporate, etc.
And if certain parameters of your device, such as the operating system language, time zone, DNS servers used, etc., don't match the geographic information of the IP address and its type, this can significantly increase the likelihood of a ban.
Many purchased proxies have likely already been involved in some activity on Facebook and are likely graylisted by Facebook. Therefore, the most reliable way to minimize the possibility of an account ban is to avoid using a proxy or VPN altogether and work from the IP address assigned by your ISP.
In most cases, when reconnecting to your ISP, it assigns a different IP address. However, since it assigns it from the subnet it allocates to its clients, this won't arouse Facebook's suspicions.
Also, ensure that the number of accounts accessing the same IP address isn't too large. The exact number of accounts that can access the same IP address is unknown.
In tests of our FB-posting Professional software, we used five old accounts on the same IP address, spaced 30 minutes apart. We didn't observe any ban attempts from Facebook.
However, you can experiment with the number of accounts accessing the same IP address yourself.
2. The device (computer) on which your accounts are accessed.
When you log into Facebook, a significant amount of information about your device is transmitted through your browser, allowing Facebook to accurately identify your device based on a combination of parameters (fingerprinting).
Facebook receives the following information about your device:
• Browser, browser language, operating system, time zone, and system language.
• Video card parameters (WebGL fingerprint). This is virtually impossible to forge.
• Sound card parameters.
• Battery level.
And more.
There's a very good resource: https://abrahamjuliot.github.io/creepjs/, where you can see what information Facebook can learn about your device.
It also displays information about whether your video card information has been tampered with. Try accessing it through any anti-detection browser that forges your device fingerprint, and you'll see if the video card raises any suspicions. For this reason, our FB-posting Professional software suite doesn't use an anti-detect browser, but the standard Google Chrome browser, which is used by millions of internet users and won't raise any suspicions on Facebook.
Changing devices for an account is one of the most common reasons for a ban, even for old accounts.
Therefore, when logging into FB-posting Professional, we recommend logging into Facebook using cookies.
If you don't have cookies, then log into Facebook using a password and only after properly warming up your profile (warming up is a topic for a separate article).
We also don't recommend using too many accounts on the same device.
The number of accounts we used when testing our FB-posting Professional software suite on each device was five old accounts, spaced 30 minutes apart.
However, you can experiment with the number of accounts on the same device yourself.
3. Browser cookies.
Facebook has a tool called the Facebook Pixel (Meta Pixel). This is an invisible code that website owners place on their websites to track conversions.
This code is present on almost all websites, and Facebook can use it to track which websites you've visited, which products you've viewed, which website pages you've opened, which social networks you're registered with, and more. Social plugins, such as the "Like" and "Share" buttons and comment widgets, also track you.
All this information is saved in your browser's cookies and becomes available to Facebook.
If an account logs into Facebook with empty cookies and hasn't visited any websites, this is a significant reason for the increased likelihood of an account ban.
Therefore, before logging into Facebook, you should warm up your account profile by opening various websites and setting cookies from other resources.
4. Behavioral factors.
Facebook records all your account activity on its website.
Everything you search for on Facebook, how far you scroll through your feed, how long you spend focusing on a post or photo.
All your clicks, likes, comments, video views (even the second you left them), message and post texts (including drafts), and so on.
Based on this information, Facebook creates a model of the average user's behavior.
If an account's behavior deviates radically from this model, this factor can greatly increase the likelihood of a ban.
Although our FB-posting Professional software suite fully emulates human actions (scrolling pages, mouse movements, pauses, etc.), it still only performs one function: automatically posting messages to groups.
Therefore, to reduce the likelihood of a ban, you should periodically manually access your account profiles using the browser included with the FB-posting Professional software suite and perform actions typical of a typical Facebook user. Watch videos, reels, visit groups, occasionally like content, and leave comments.
5. Personal information.
Facebook takes a very negative approach to accounts with incomplete personal information. All information for accounts that participate in automatic group posting must be fully completed. However, it is strictly forbidden to use real account information and photos for this purpose. Facebook easily detects duplicates and the use of other people's photos. A ban can follow immediately.
Also, do not change usernames, passwords, or contact information shortly after starting to use your account. Such actions are highly likely to be perceived by Facebook as an account hack. It is only safe to change personal information after using the account for several months, and only in cases of urgent need (for example, if you lose access to your phone or email).
6. Complaints from administrators and users.
Complaints from group administrators and users about the content you post in groups undoubtedly affect the likelihood of an account ban.
Therefore, you should carefully select groups for posting to ensure your posts don't violate their rules, aren't posted too frequently, and are fully consistent with the group's theme.
Also, avoid overdoing it by sending private messages and friend requests to users.
A brief description of possible reasons for Facebook account blocking:
1. Suspicious IP address or too many accounts on a single IP address.
2. Suspicious device or too many accounts on a single device.
3. Missing cookies containing information about visited websites.
4. Account behavior significantly different from the average Facebook user.
5. Incorrect personal data.
6. Complaints from administrators and users.
You can discuss this article and ask questions on our forum.
