Facebook Deactivates Game Developer's Fan Page Without Explanation

Carlo, a Pittsburgh lacrosse coach who is helping make the video game College Lacrosse 10, built a Facebook fan page that amassed tens of thousands of fans, in part by spending thousands in ad dollars on Facebook promoting the page.

Now apparently all that effort and success has gone to waste, since Facebook has deleted Carlo’s page, offering only a vague explanation. His story:

Thanks for giving the small business owner a chance versus these big corporate jag-offs.

My name is Carlo. I’m a lacrosse coach and first time game developer from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

For the past 4 months, our developer has been building a lacrosse video game for the Microsoft’s Dream Build Play contest in August. I am using a Facebook Page to get the word out about the development of College Lacrosse10. We have already amassed over 40,000 fans in 2 months. Today I receive a message from Facebook stating “Your publishing rights have been blocked due to a violation of the pages terms of use…”

I know they are trying to crack down on “fake” Facebook pages, but my page is legit.

Facebook is really killing me on this. I have tried to contact them but it’s IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of them. I have spent over $1000 in advertising on FB, I would think they could answer the phone.

Any help would be appreciated. Do you know anyone I could contact?

Unfortunately we have little help to offer Carlo other than offering him bonus points for using the word “jagoffs,” bringing his plight public and hope Facebook at least responds with a reason for canceling the presumably innocent account. It’s too bad his problem isn’t with MySpace, because that delightful Tom fellow has been my friend for years, and I know he values our relationship he’s always whispering me messages of sweet nothings regarding exciting new features.

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