Meta tests live chat support for people locked out of their accounts

Meta (formerly Facebook) is testing live chat support for people, including creators, who have been locked out of their accounts.

The test, currently available in the US, focuses on those who cannot access their accounts due to unusual activity or whose accounts have been suspended due to a violation of community standards.

"On the Facebook App specifically, we've started testing live chat help for some English-speaking users globally, including creators," the company said in a statement late on Friday.

This will be the first time Facebook has offered live help for people locked out of their accounts.

The company has also begun a small test to provide support through live chat for English-speaking creators in the US who do not already have an assigned relationship manager from Meta to help with questions they might have about Facebook or Instagram.

"Creators can access a dedicated creator support site when logged in through Facebook. There, they can chat live with a support agent for help on various issues ranging from status of a pay-out to questions about a new feature like Reels," the social networking site said.

Meta added that it is adding more controls to help people manage the conversation around their content like blocking a user and new accounts they create, and improving how they hide unwanted comments on their posts.

"With the hide action now available next to each comment, you can quickly hide comments with one click and easily view all hidden comments in a single place by changing the comment filter view on your posts," Meta announced.

For keyword blocking, you can now automatically hide comments with variations of words that use numbers, symbols or different spellings.

"We're also testing Moderation Assist, which -- similar to Admin Assist for Groups -- makes it easy to set criteria to automatically moderate comments on your posts, reducing how much time is spent on comment moderation," Meta said.

Meta is also piloting 'Safety School' -- a trust and safety-focused webinar for creators on Facebook and Instagram.

So far, the company has connected with creators in more than 27 countries around this, and will expand this programme and resources to more creators in the next year.