I lied.
I did not just lose my Facebook account; I lost my Instagram and my Threads account in this same swoop.
My Facebook contained apps that I built, my business manager account, my Facebook Business pages, and thousands of photo memories from my teenage years. Facebook was my oldest and my first real social media platform, but on the morning of December 28, 2025, I lost access to every single thing I have created on these Meta platforms since my teenage years.
After more than 15 years on Facebook, a platform where I built an entire legacy, my account was suddenly and permanently suspended. How does a platform that I have given so much of my life treat me with so much robotic recklessness?
My phone shows that I spend an average of five hours a day on Facebook alone. Remembering this again forced me to think deeply about how I’ve been spending my time and how I want to spend the next 15 years of my life.
With that clarity, I’ve decided that if my accounts are not reinstated by Meta, I will NOT return to Facebook or its other Meta platforms, except WhatsApp, which still feels more human in how it handles issues when they arise.
No warning.
No grace to look up and fix any account-related issue.
Just a lockout after an appeal process that looks automated.
If you’ve ever known or interacted with “Yuyu Odukoyas” online, then you’ve known a version of me built with care, passion, and purpose. My real name is Yusuf Odukoya, but for over 3 years, I used my playful nickname as my Facebook display name.
That small detail—something that I had built the YUYU brand around—turned out to be the reason Facebook’s systems flagged my account.
And on December 28, 2025, they shut it all down.
In losing access to my account, I lost
- 15+ years of memories, friendships, messages, and posts
- A loyal following of over 20,500 people
- A community that helped me grow ZHero Web Design Course, where I’m mentoring more than 250 budding dynamic web designers
- The primary platform where many people first discovered my work
- Apps and automations that I have built on the platform
That page was part of me. It held stories, testimonials, creative ideas, growth moments, and connections that I truly valued.
The hardest part? No prior warning or advice, despite being a Meta Verified user two months prior. One would think that Meta Verified and 2FA would have given some real advantage in issues like this, but this is just another false sense of exclusivity sold by the Meta/Facebook Verified offering.
No “Hey, this name doesn’t match our records, please update.”
Just a very cold execution.
For an account I’ve had since my teenage years, it felt very harsh, unjust, and inhumane.
But here’s what I have learned;
Facebook is not ours. No matter how long you’ve been there, no matter how much you’ve contributed, it’s jsut not your platform.
After the suspension, I thought, “Okay, data privacy rules globally enforce the ‘you own your data’ narrative,” but when I downloaded “my information” from Facebook after the penalty, all I got was a ZIP file that was just 4.4MB. That’s less than the file size of a single Facebook video.
What I found inside the ZIP file was a bunch of HTML files that basically just saved my bio and other Facebook-related preferences. Like, what am I supposed to do with all of that? 😅.
Where are my photos, Facebook? Photos of me when I was 17 years old are gone because of an automatically flagged “account integrity issue.” Photos of me at my matriculation and graduation ceremonies from the University of Lagos are also gone. Facebook, why?
I now have a gallery on my website, but it is nothing compared with thousands of my Facebook photos over the course of the last 15 years.
If you’re a creator, entrepreneur, coach, or mentor, please hear me:
Don’t build your empire solely on borrowed land.
Strangely, the same night my account was suspended, I slept peacefully.
Why? Because I had taken one smart step a while back, I built my own website and started growing my newsletter list. That meant:
- I could still reach people who mattered most
- I had full control over my content, voice, and platform
- I didn’t need Facebook to validate my work
Yes, the loss still stings. But it didn’t destroy me, because I wasn’t completely dependent on Meta’s ecosystem.
To anyone reading this, if you’re looking for me on Facebook, I’m not there anymore. And I won’t be returning. I’ve made the choice to stop using all Meta products, except WhatsApp, which, at least for now, still provides a reasonable appeal process.
More importantly, I’m encouraging you to take back your control of your life and destiny.
👉 Start your website.
👉 Build your email list.
👉 Diversify your online presence.
👉 Don’t wait until your account disappears to realize what you’ve built.
Building millions of followers on a platform that will destroy you in one night is never worth the work. You should commit your hours to owning independent systems, which will always preserve your legacy.
Until next time. 💜
