Tell HN: Dentist banned from WhatsApp without appeal
I've been developing https://www.dododentist.com for the past year. DodoDentist is a dental clinic management software. I've spent weeks trying to add the Whatsapp reminders like: "Hi {{recipient_name}}, your dentist appointment is {{appointment_details}}. Thank you"
My ID has been rejected more than 20 times at Business verification. All sorts of dumb errors like "You haven't provided a valid ID" "Your ID name doesn't match" "Your ID must have a dark background". My ID has been accepted literally by dozens of banks and websites before Whatsapp decided to rejected it 20 times in dozens of versions.
After weeks of implementing Meta Cloud API integration, today my whole Whatsapp account has been banned after sending literally 3 message of that template. No reason has been provided except it doesn't comply with Whatsapp Policy (which of course is long pages).
If you know someone from Whatsapp Business verification team or you can help me please write at admin AT dododentist DOT com
If you are also in the same situation please reach out.
I'm considering legal action.
The Google Play Store and App Store were successfully sued when they did not provide motivation for rejection and I'm considering doing the same. You dismiss the WhatsApp Policy as being a lot of pages. And? That's their policy. You need to understand how they believe you're violating that policy before you can proceed. You dismiss the errors as being dumb, well, since your account has been suspended it sounds like maybe they were important. Going forward, you'll find that the so-called T's & C's (terms and conditions) are dramatically different between commercial and private use. If you get a lawyer involved to sue Meta then the first thing they're going to want to review is Meta's policies and T's & C's and they'll make the assessment if you're violating them. Since they're going to do that anyway, you should have done that at the beginning so you could have avoided this whole mess. I do not dismiss their policy, I dismiss their behaviour of not providing specific reason for the ban.
They have merely stated that I have violated the Terms of Service.
They have not stated WHY and HOW I have violated them.
Whatsapp Terms of Service is a very long document with HUNDREDS of potential reason very different from each other.
I'm left in the dark of why I have been banned.
Furthermore I have literally sent only 3 MESSAGES to my own Whatsapp account while I was developing the app. So it's clear it's at best a misunderstanding.
Furthermore Whatsapp is now a MONOPOLY in Chat communication for business.
Their approach to ban businesses and don't provide reason is draconic. Have you ever not gotten your way before?