'I felt defamed': The Perth mum and business owner cancelled by Meta's AI

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Perth hairdresser and makeup artist Taryn Elliott woke up last Friday to a notification that felt like a punch to the gut. It wasn't a technical glitch; it was a character assassination by algorithm.

Meta - the parent company behind Facebook and Instagram - had suddenly suspended both her personal and business accounts. 

The reason given was both puzzling and appalling: a supposed violation of community standards regarding child sexual exploitation and nudity.

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Perth hair and make-up artist Taryn Elliott's Facebook and Instagram accounts were suddenly suspended by Meta last week.

"I'm a mum, first off, so it almost feels like I've been defamed," Elliott said.

"In my head, I know I'm not that kind of person, so it's just weird and gross."

The 45-year-old single mum has been a fixture of the Perth beauty scene for decades. Her "crime," she suspects, was simply doing her job during the peak school ball season.

After styling students for their special day, she follows a strict professional protocol: asking for permission from both the 17-year-old students and their mothers to post photos of her work.

Elliott believes the last photo she posted, of a student and her boyfriend in their formal wear, sent to her by the girl's mother, may have been what was flagged by Meta, but she has no idea why.

"I wrote to Meta and I said, 'Can you please explain what this is regarding, as I am very confused. I'm a makeup artist and I only post photos of my make-up work,'" she said.

Elliott immediately followed Meta's automated instructions to lodge an appeal over the suspension, but told nine.com.au she was yet to get a response five days later, despite being promised one within 48 hours.

Getting caught up in Meta's AI monitoring systems has become an increasingly perilous risk for small business owners, many of whom like Elliott rely on Facebook for clients to find them. 

Elliott said she was now a member of a WhatsApp group titled 'Perth businesses affected by Meta', alongside 14 other local entrepreneurs facing similar "wrongful" suspensions. 

Thousands of disgruntled Facebook users have flocked to forums on Reddit, calling for a class action lawsuit to be launched against Meta over account suspensions. 

Most of the users commenting on Reddit express their despair and frustration over their inability to get any human support from Meta or have their accounts reinstated.

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A single mother, Taryn Elliott said she was thrown into panic when she couldn't get a response from Meta about the wrongful allegations.

A change.org petition calling on Meta to recognise the problem as more than an "isolated glitch" has so far attracted more than 57,000 signatures.

While Meta previously hailed its AI as the "single most important improvement" in policing the platform, technology expert Trevor Long says the system has become a blunt instrument.

"It's good that they're cracking down on child pornography... but if it's going too far, they need to have recourse for people," Long recently told A Current Affair.

Long believes Meta is effectively pushing desperate business owners toward Meta Verified, a paid subscription costing anywhere from $20 to hundreds of dollars a month. 

"They're saying, if you don't pay us, we're not going to help you if you have problems. Without it, you're unlikely to ever speak with a human or get your account back."

After nine.com.au contacted Meta, Elliott's Facebook account was reinstated.

A spokesperson said: "We take action on accounts that violate our policies, and people can appeal if they think we've made a mistake."

Elliott said the experience of falling into the  "black hole" of Meta's support system was eye-opening and extremely stressful.

"The panic starts and you go to the worst-case scenario. I thought, I'm going to have to find a new career. I'm going to have to take [my son] out of his school," she said. 

"My whole life started to change right in front of me, just by that one action from Meta."

To keep her business alive, Elliot was forced to spend $200 - money she says she "doesn't have to spare" amid the cost-of-living crisis - on an emergency text campaign to reach her client database.

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