These are Bad Companies

One of the facts about all of the social media companies is that their customer service is incredibly awful.

At the criminal enterprise formerly known as Facebook™, it is so bad that people are filing small claims cases against the company as a way to get support.

If Facebook is bad, Google is immeasurably worse, and Ecch (formerly Twitter) was bad before the Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™ took it over.

Last month, Ray Palena boarded a plane from New Jersey to California to appear in court. He found himself engaged in a legal dispute against one of the largest corporations in the world, and improbably, the venue for their David-versus-Goliath showdown would be San Mateo's small claims court.

Over the course of eight months and an estimated $700 (mostly in travel expenses), he was able to claw back what all other methods had failed to render: his personal Facebook account.

Those may be extraordinary lengths to regain a digital profile with no relation to its owner's livelihood, but Palena is one of a growing number of frustrated users of Meta's services who, unable to get help from an actual human through normal channels of recourse, are using the court system instead. And in many cases, it's working.

Engadget spoke with five individuals who have sued Meta in small claims court over the last two years in four different states. In three cases, the plaintiffs were able to restore access to at least one lost account. One person was also able to win financial damages and another reached a cash settlement. Two cases were dismissed. In every case, the plaintiffs were at least able to get the attention of Meta’s legal team, which appears to have something of a playbook for handling these claims.

While one cannot be represented by a lawyer at small claims court, a law firm could provide tools for these sorts of filings and assistance, and perhaps someone already is.

Certainly having to file lawsuits for the most basic customer support is a disgrace.