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Meta has a large amount of control over our businesses and our lives. But after a wave of suspensions tied to alcohol content slashed visibility, leaving businesses confused, frustrated and scrambling for answers, should we continue to let it?
WORDS Sean P. Sullivan
“Ihave lost control of the robot, and the inevitable consequences frighten me,” Rotwang says in the 1927 science fiction movie Metropolis. I sometimes wonder if Facebook’s developers have the same thought. Facebook users surely do.
In January 2026, hundreds of thousands of businesses received the unwelcome news that Facebook would no longer be recommending their pages. Page owners were told that they “didn’t follow the rules” with notification text that even Isaac Asimov would have admired.
“Our technology found your content doesn’t follow our Community Standards. As a result, our technology took action.”
FROM SUSPENDED RECOMMENDATIONS TO PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED
Facebook’s “Community Standards” are “high-level rules against sexual, violent, profane, or hateful content.” Page recommendations, meanwhile, are where Facebook suggests a page or a post. It is one of the ways that businesses grow followers.
With the suspensions, there was no indication what companies had done wrong. There was also no way to appeal.
It soon became clear that businesses involved in any fashion with alcohol were particularly hard hit: wineries, breweries, distilleries, retailers, distributors, bars, restaurants, educators, media, marketers and more. The restrictions were estimated to have potentially impacted millions of pages. Business owners frantically tried to decipher how they “didn’t follow the rules.”
“I was trying to follow links, and I’m trying to figure out if there’s any way I can talk to someone about this,” says Corey Braunel, winegrower and co-owner of Dusted Valley winery in Walla Walla, Washington. He ultimately searched YouTube for possible solutions, found one that seemed legitimate and followed the instructions.
Several hours later, Braunel received a succession of emails stating that his request was being reviewed, that his winery’s Facebook advertising was now restricted and, ultimately, that his personal Facebook account was permanently disabled.
“I thought, ‘What did I do?’ ”
A CORPORATE MONOLITH
The timing of the Facebook page recommendation suspensions was a conspiracy theorist’s dream. Just a few days prior, the United States released new alcohol consumption guidelines that continued with an increasingly common prohibitive narrative.
A few days later, 17.5 million users on Instagram, which Meta owns, received phishing emails. Meta, meanwhile, had a change in leadership at this time, with a former Trump administration official now in charge. Surely some of these things had to be related to taking away page recommendations from alcohol-related businesses, right?
A corporate monolith, Meta remained silent about whether it had been hacked, changed its policies regarding alcohol, tightened existing restrictions or just made a mistake.
The first sign that Meta was even aware of the issue came January 17, a little over a week after the issue started, when the company added a means to appeal the suspension.
Facebook, of course, has long been too big with too many users for human beings to monitor content. Instead, algorithms and, more recently, artificial intelligence, do. That includes making and reviewing page recommendation suspensions.
Facebook, of course, has long been too big with too many users for human beings to monitor content. Instead, algorithms and, more recently, artificial intelligence, do. That includes making and reviewing page recommendation suspensions.
“There is nothing you can do about it,” says Jesús Martínez Bujanda, whose family owns Bodegas Valdemar in Rioja, Spain and Valdemar Estates in Walla Walla, Washington. “Our industry is also not relevant enough for a company like Facebook. That’s the reality.”
AN UNSETTLING FEELING
In January, Martínez Bujanda soft-launched a non-alcoholic, sparkling tea company called MaraBela. Within a few days, the company’s Facebook page recommendations were suspended. The product’s formal launch is scheduled for March.
“I really hope they get it fixed by March, otherwise it’s going to be a big problem for both our businesses,” says Martínez Bujanda. “There is no other social media platform that you can really rely on that substitutes what Facebook does.”
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On January 21, a representative from Meta confirmed to Northwest Wine Report (which is owned by this writer) that the page recommendation suspensions for alcohol-related businesses were caused by a “technical issue”—a bug in software parlance. The company applied a fix and said that it considered the matter resolved.
Subsequently, some businesses had their page recommendations restored; some did not. Some restorations were brief. Some asked for a review and were successful; others were denied. Some also had their reviews denied but their recommendations were restored and vice versa.
The entire problem left an unsettling feeling. If Facebook could suspend page recommendations for businesses without cause and, in some cases, not restore them, it could similarly suspend business pages entirely with no means of recourse.
A NECESSARY EVIL?
“The truth of the matter is that whenever you hear someone reference these social media platforms, the immediate thing that follows is that it’s the ‘necessary evil,’ ” says Braunel. “Is it?”
Over the last 25 years, Facebook has gone from upstart company to one that is mission critical to many businesses. However, businesses that utilize Facebook have no control over it. Can companies really afford to have a business partner that is opaque, unresponsive, and controlled by artificial intelligence and algorithms?
“Facebook is a great place [for businesses] to be and there are still a lot of people on that platform, but you don’t own that platform and, on a whim, they could take access away from you. So diversifying your portfolio, if you will, and making sure that you have touch points in multiple channels is going to be the key.”
Braunel notes that Dusted Valley’s recent issues have brought about a “reexamination.”
“It’s forced us as a company to look inward,” he says. “These platforms really haven’t served us very well as a company for a long time, just based on the fact that we don’t have the money to really compete and play in the advertising or the algorithm space.”
Braunel adds that Dusted Valley is now distancing itself, somewhat, from social media and concentrating on other ways to communicate and engage with customers. This includes reemphasizing getting customer emails and phone numbers.
“We have to rethink and reprioritize,” he says.
DIVERSIFYING CHANNELS
Of course, businesses use Facebook because that’s where their customers are. Facebook has, essentially, become an on-line town square.
“Facebook is a great place [for businesses] to be and there are still a lot of people on that platform, but you don’t own that platform and, on a whim, they could take access away from you,” says Jeremy Schubert, cofounder of Lunabean Media, a digital marketing and consulting company in Portland. “So diversifying your portfolio, if you will, and making sure that you have touch points in multiple channels is going to be the key.”
Everything that one sees, or doesn’t see, on Facebook is controlled by algorithms and artificial intelligence. It could also, perhaps, be controlled by a solitary individual, as we have witnessed with Elon Musk’s X. Facebook has the ability to show, censor or deprioritize as it sees fit.
As individuals, Facebook also has the ability to make one feel happy, sad or angry with the content that it promotes. For businesses, Facebook can, potentially, control whether they succeed or fail.
“These guys figured out how to literally control the metaverse, for a lack of better term,” says Braunel.
Ironically, it’s not even clear if Meta does fully control Facebook. Despite intervention by individuals at Meta, Braunel’s personal Facebook page remains permanently disabled. As of this writing, Martínez Bujanda had the review for his sparkling tea company denied. And the author’s own page recommendations were, once again, suspended without cause.
This article was published in the Spring 2026 issue of Full Pour. Don’t own it? Pick one up today!