Social media giant apologises for blocking woman's account

Kim Brotherton’s personal Facebook account was blocked for three days after another user took offence at a comment she made.

It was the second time her account had been blocked and she now fears she could be banned from the website, which would mean the end of her Believe \_ Mental Health Support Group on the social network, which supports 22,000 people worldwide.

Kim said that in the recent incident at the beginning of January she asked another Facebook user if he was “dense” after he made a comment regarding a computer war game.

He had already made a remark she regarded as racist and she said he questioned her mental health in another message.

The row came during a conversation on the Britain Furst page which, Kim said, pokes fun at right-wing political group Britain First.

Then, without warning, her account was locked for three days by Facebook.

Kim, of Burman Road, Wath, founded Believe \a Mental Health Support Group on Facebook two years ago and said that members helped each other with users of the group spanning the globe and ranging in age from 14 to their nineties.

Through the Facebook account, members are able to support each other through crises relating to mental health issues.

Kim said that some of the people who had caused problems for the mental health site were individuals who had been barred for not following the rules and were taking revenge.

She also said she had not been told who complained about her leading to the temporary ban, but believes it was the person she called “dense”.

Kim said: “He made the racist remark. I asked him if he was really that dense then he brought up my mental health.

“It was a long conversation. He was basically abusing everyone on the post.”

She added: “Because of my personality I can take it but it’s the fact I have been banned by Facebook twice and I have been taken away from helping people who are suicidal.

“If complaints keep getting made, I am going to be removed permanently which means the end of the group.”

A Facebook spokesman told the Advertiser that Kim’s profile had been removed in error and had now been restored, and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

The company said that it dealt with more than one million complaints about accounts each week and that users of the website used the reporting system facility to highlight incidents where they believed the company’s community standards had been violated.