Someone removed me as an admin on my Facebook page

Recently I’ve had a number of people asking me about this very problem. Some of them have (had) active business pages but because a disgruntled employee or former web developer was able to hijack the page, they’re in a real bind. The hijackers refuse to give the page back, and the business owners are afraid of what the person in control of the page will do to their business. Face it, some people will go to great lengths to ruin someone if they’re angry enough. And being able to mess with a company’s Facebook business page, especially if it’s an active one, is a pretty sure-fire way to do just that.

There may be a way to get your hijacked Facebook business page back though. The Facebook Copyright Policy allows a user to report infringement of intellectual property, including copyrights and trademarks. This would include using your business name, trademark, copyrighted content,  and/or custom URL on a business page.

How to Report an Infringing Facebook Username

To do this, fill out the infringing username form. If the Facebook username matches your email address my best guess is that your complaint will have a bit more legitimacy, as well as if you are able to provide a trademark registration number. There is also room to state why the page is infringing on your rights, so be sure to include that. As with most things, the more concrete information you can provide, the better off you will be. (The form linked to originally in this blog post is no longer available. See this page for infringement info.)

How to Report an Infringing Trademark and/or Copyright

You can also report copyright or trademark infringement by completing the Facebook DMCA form. As with the infringing username, provide as much information as possible to prove your ownership of the material in question.

Keep in mind that Facebook has over 800 million users, so I wouldn’t expect an overnight response to your complaint. Since I haven’t had to go this route for myself, or any of my clients, I’m not sure how long it may take. With hosting companies it can take a few hours to a couple weeks. If any of you file a complaint with Facebook though, please let us know how it goes. My hope is that it’ll be a fairly quick turnaround.

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If you're managing the social media pages for a business or other type of organization, it can be helpful if you don't have to pull all the weight on your own. By enlisting other marketing professionals or colleagues to share their stories on your business page, you can get the word out about your business in different ways and potentially reach different people. When you make a person an "admin" of your page, he is able to act as a representative of the page and assist in any administrative duties. Adding an individual as an admin is easy if you know the common pitfalls.

Facebook Profile

1. The person you're trying to add as an admin for your Facebook page must have a Facebook account, whether it is a personal profile or a business account. Facebook pages are their own entities, and people who administer them are not necessarily visible to people who like the page. If you've entered someone's email address into the "Start typing a name or email" section of the Manage Admins screen located in the Edit Profile section of your page, Facebook will not register that person unless he is already a Facebook member.

Liking the Page

1. Another source of your problem may be that the person you want to add as an administrator hasn't yet liked the page. For someone to be an admin, he has to like the page first. Just ask the person to navigate to your page and click the "Like" button near the top of the page; then go back and try to add him as an admin.

Final Steps

1. Once you've entered either the person's Facebook name or email address into the "Start typing a name or email" box in the Manage Admin screen, you have a few more things to do to make sure the person is added as an admin. After you've selected the person and his name appears in the "Start typing a name or email box," click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the screen. This initiates a pop-up window that asks you to confirm your changes. According to Facebook, this keeps your page secure.

Another Way

1. If you know someone has already liked your page, there's one other way to add him as an administrator. This may come in handy if you can't remember the exact profile name or email address of the person you want to add. From your page, click the "like this" link under the number of people who like your page in the left column. This opens a box that shows the people who like your page. Scroll until you find the person you seek or click "See More" near the bottom to see more names. When you find the person you're looking for, click "Make Admin" next to his name and then click "Save Changes" when you're directed to the next page.

How do I get admin rights back on my Facebook page?

Can an admin delete an owner of a Facebook page?

Do you get a notification when someone removes you as admin on Facebook?