Meta (formerly Facebook) has long been a critical tool for small businesses to connect with customers and grow their communities. Their daily platform users helped build the business to be the behemoth it is today.

Meta is greatly lacking in gratitude and instead of supporting entrepreneurs, the monopolistic company has implemented exploitative practices that harm small businesses while prioritizing corporate profits. 

We demand transparency, accountability, and fair treatment for the small businesses that rely on Meta's platform.

For years, small businesses like Sisters of the Valley have relied on Meta to connect with customers and grow their communities. However, Meta’s practices have transformed this once-supportive platform into a system of exploitation.

Here’s what we and countless others have experienced:

Shadow-banning: Posts are hidden from followers without explanation, crippling visibility and engagement for businesses in federally legal industries like hemp, holistic medicine, and alternative therapies.

Advertising traps: Meta encourages businesses to spend money on ads while suppressing the same content those ads promote, wasting resources.

Negligent security: Pages are left vulnerable to hacking, and recovery processes are slow or non-existent. We had to launch two separate public press campaigns just to regain access to our hacked page.

Fake support: Meta’s customer service is nearly impossible to navigate, and once through, their support team has no tools to offer solutions.

These practices hurt not only small businesses but also consumers seeking innovative, natural, or local solutions. By prioritizing profits over transparency, fairness, and security, Meta is actively undermining the survival of small businesses and the diversity of products and services available to the public.

 
Our Demands

We call on Meta to implement the following reforms immediately:

Transparency: End shadow-banning practices and ensure that content reaches followers who opt to see it.

Accountability: Provide accessible, effective customer support for small businesses, with clear escalation paths for unresolved issues.

Fairness: Offer refunds or credits for ineffective advertising campaigns and ensure ads deliver on their promised reach.

Security: Protect business pages from hacking with better safeguards and responsive recovery processes.

Commitment to Small Businesses: Establish a task force or team dedicated to resolving issues unique to small businesses, ensuring they are not overshadowed by corporate clients.

Read more on this subject by the Sisters, here.

Call to Action

Meta’s actions have hurt small businesses, holistic healers, therapists, and innovators for far too long. It’s time for change.  Sign this petition to hold Meta accountable and demand fair treatment for small businesses and practitioners everywhere. Together, we can make them do what they present themselves to be doing, hosting a platform that supports entrepreneurs, fosters innovation, and empowers consumers.