Warning: Our Systems Detected You Have Multiple Accounts – Nothing to Worry About, Yet.

Several Facebook users have reported receiving the following warning message from Facebook:

“It looks like you have more than one account on Facebook. Facebook is a community where people use their real identities so you always know who you’re connecting with. Maintaining multiple accounts is a violation of our Terms and could result in all of your accounts being disabled. Please remove this account and help us keep Facebook safe and enjoyable for everyone.”

This warning has been causing quite a stir today! Many users are worried that they will be losing their accounts, and many stated that they don’t have multiple accounts at all. It seemed rather odd that so many were receiving this message all of a sudden, so we reached out to Facebook to see if we could get an explanation.

We received the following message from Facebook a short while ago explaining what is going on:

We are currently testing a system that warns users who have opened multiple accounts, we are not taking any action on these users for the time being so there’s no need for anyone to worry. We are iterating on this system to be more accurate and are only notifying possible violators.

The email went on to state Facebook’s policy on multiple accounts:

Facebook has always been based on a real name culture. This leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for our users. It¹s a violation of our policies to use a fake name or operate multiple accounts. We have a dedicated User Operations team that reviews these reports and takes action as necessary.

We also have technical systems in place to flag and block potential fake accounts based on name and anomalous site activity. One of these technical systems has been displaying a warning to users we believe may be operating multiple accounts, while we are not taking action on these warnings at the moment, we have been notifying users that they may be violating our policies. We are constantly iterating on these systems and developing new ones, to provide an even better experience for the people who use our service.

So it appears that everyone that has received the warning message is safe – for now. If you are using multiple accounts for any reason, please take notice. Doing so is a violation of Facebook’s ToS and can result in you losing your account.

**Update**

Several readers reported accidentally clicking on the remove link and have since lost access to their account. We spoke to a Facebook spokesperson about this issue. Their recommendation was to use this link to try to reactivate your account:

https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=212666185422169#I-deactivated-my-account

If the link above doesn’t work, then you can send us your Facebook information (name and email address) and we will forward it Facebook’s User Operations Team for reinstatement. Do NOT send us your Facebook password.


Recommended Resources

BitDefender Safego is a Facebook application you can install that will scan your News Feed and help keep you safe from scams on Facebook.

PRIVATE WiFi® is a Personal VPN that encrypts everything you send and receive. Don’t access Facebook from a public WiFi hotspot without it.

Do Not Track + is a FREE browser plugin created by Abine. This easy to install plugin keeps websites from tracking you. If you value your online privacy, then you should definitely take advantage of this free product.

Action Alert | Free Parental Control offers a 100% free Internet safety solution designed for parents. There is also a Maximum Protection option for parents that need a more advanced set of tools.

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