Facebook bans can range from 24 hours all the way up to indefinite depending on the severity of the violation. While short-term bans are common, long-term and indefinite bans are reserved for more serious offenses. The longest possible ban that can be applied on Facebook is permanent – meaning your account is disabled and you are prohibited from creating new accounts or managing existing Pages you control.
Common Ban Durations
Here are some of the most common ban durations on Facebook and what types of violations result in them:
| Ban Duration | Common Violations |
|---|---|
| 24 hours | First violation of community standards like bullying, hate speech, etc. |
| 3 days | Repeated minor violations |
| 7 days | Sharing nudity, threats of violence, repeatedly posting misinformation |
| 30 days | Severe or repeated violations like hate speech, harassment, impersonation |
| 60 days | Posting terrorist propaganda, severe bullying and harassment, compromised accounts sending spam |
| Permanent | Posting child exploitative imagery, severe repeat offenses, compromised accounts sending malware |
As you can see, temporary bans tend to increase in duration as violations continue. Permanent bans are reserved only for the most severe abuses.
What Triggers a Permanent Ban?
Facebook has a strict policy against anything that puts people in danger, like terrorist propaganda, threats, posting others’ private information, child abuse imagery, and predatory behavior. Engaging in this type of severe abusive behavior will result in an indefinite ban.
Some specific things that can get your account permanently banned include:
- Sharing images of child sexual abuse
- Making direct threats of violence against others
- Posting terrorist propaganda videos or recruitment materials
- Operating fake accounts or networks of fake accounts
- Coordinating harm against others on Facebook
- Performing account compromises or hacking against other users
These types of malicious behaviors violate Facebook’s Community Standards at the highest level. Since they endanger people’s safety and security, Facebook’s policy is to permanently disable accounts engaging in them.
The Appeals Process
If your account gets disabled, you will receive an on-platform notification explaining the reason. You will have the option to initiate the appeals process directly within this notification.
To appeal your permanent ban, you must:
- Confirm your account information
- Read Facebook’s Community Standards fully
- Indicate which content resulted in your ban
- Explain why you believe the ban was a mistake
- Confirm you will comply with standards moving forward
A member of Facebook’s reviews team will then assess your appeal and make a final determination. However, reversal rates for severe violations resulting in indefinite bans are very low. If your appeal gets denied, the account and its content will remain permanently disabled.
Creating New Accounts After a Ban
If your account gets permanently disabled, Facebook’s policies prohibit creating new accounts. Doing so will likely result in those accounts quickly getting banned as well once detected.
This is because Facebook has advanced systems that link associated accounts and behaviors behind the scenes. Things like your IP address, linked devices, facial recognition in photos, contacts lists, and other data can identify a new account belonging to a banned user fairly easily.
Circumventing your ban by creating new accounts will be seen as continued abuse, making your ban indefinite and irreversible.
Maintaining Access to Your Data
If your account gets permanently disabled, you will no longer have access to data contained within it. This includes:
- Posts, photos, videos, and other content you shared
- Chat and message history
- Contacts list and connections
- Groups and Pages you managed
Facebook provides the option to download an archive of your data before disabling your account. However, if your ban was sudden, you may not have had time to do this.
Unfortunately, there are no options to retrieve your lost data after a permanent ban goes into effect. Facebook’s policy states they can delete or anonymize account information after it gets disabled.
Losing Access to Oculus if Banned
Since Facebook owns Oculus VR, a permanent Facebook ban will also result in losing access to your Oculus account and purchases.
If your Oculus account gets disabled as a result of a Facebook ban, you have these options:
- Appeal the ban to potentially restore Oculus access
- Factory reset your Oculus device to use without an account
However, factory resetting means losing your existing game purchases and progress. And as mentioned above, ban appeal success rates are low for severe violations.
Losing Facebook/Oculus access permanently is one of the most drastic results of an indefinite ban, cutting you off from both social and gaming platforms.
Preventing Bans
The best way to avoid getting banned on Facebook indefinitely is to ensure you thoroughly understand and comply with all Community Standards. Some tips include:
- Never post graphic or disturbing content like hate speech, violence, nudity, etc.
- Do not harass, bully, or threaten others.
- Always respect others’ privacy and do not share confidential information.
- Report suspicious accounts and content that may be dangerous.
- Do not create fake or misleading accounts.
- Do not attempt to compromise or hack other accounts.
Basically, using Facebook responsibly greatly reduces your risk of severe violations resulting in permanent account termination. If in doubt, err on the side of caution in what you post and share.
Conclusion
The longest ban that Facebook will impose is permanent account disablement, reserved only for the most serious violations putting people in danger. Things like child abuse, terrorism, threats, hacking, and compromising account security can all result in indefinite bans. While appeals are possible, reversals are uncommon for severe offenses. Losing access to both Facebook and Oculus platforms permanently is the most severe outcome. The best way to avoid an indefinite ban is being cautious in how you use Facebook and adhering closely to Community Standards policies.