LockoutCase

Guide · EU, EEA & UK · checked 23 Oct 2026

Ask Meta why, in writing.

If you are in the EU, EEA or UK, data-protection law gives you a free right to see the data Meta holds about you, including information about how a decision about you was made. It will not restore an account by itself, but it creates a dated legal obligation and a record a regulator can act on.

1. Send the access request

  • Address it to Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, FAO: Privacy Operations, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Ireland. It handles accounts for EU users; UK users can send the same request, citing the UK GDPR.
  • Send it through Meta’s Data Protection Officer contact form and keep a screenshot of the confirmation.
  • Ask for your data, the specific policy relied on, the content or behaviour concerned, and whether the decision was automated (Article 15(1)(h)). The kit drafts this for you.
  • Never include a password or login code. Meta may ask you to verify who you are; give only what identifies you.

2. Watch the clock

Under Article 12(3), Meta must answer within one month of receiving the request. It can extend by two further months for complex or numerous requests, but must tell you within the first month. Log the date you sent it in the deadline tracker.

3. If Meta ignores you or answers partly

  • EU: complain to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (Meta’s lead EU regulator) or to your own national authority (list of authorities). Regulators generally expect you to have contacted the company first, so attach your request and any reply. The DPC cannot award compensation. Published DPC amicable-resolution decisions include cases where Meta reinstated an account after the DPC raised it.
  • UK: complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

4. Rejected moderation appeal in the EU?

Under the Digital Services Act you can ask a certified out-of-court body such as Appeals Centre Europe to review a rejected appeal. It is free to users, but its decisions are not binding on Meta. Its own transparency report for April 2025 to March 2026 says that of more than 5,000 in-scope account-suspension requests, fewer than 150 were decided on content, and cases averaged 65 days. Run it alongside the access request, not instead of it. There is no equivalent for UK users.

LockoutCase is a self-help tool, not a law firm, and not a substitute for the advice of a lawyer.

Draft the access request

GDPR questions

Does an access request cost anything?

No. Under GDPR Article 12(5) the first copy is free. A fee is only possible for manifestly unfounded or excessive requests.

Will a GDPR request get my account back?

Not by itself. It obliges Meta to explain and disclose, and gives a regulator something concrete to act on if Meta does not.

What is Article 22?

Article 22 restricts decisions based solely on automated processing that significantly affect you. Asking whether the decision was automated (Art. 15(1)(h)) is the first step to knowing whether it applies.