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This article provides a comprehensive guide on reclaiming administrative rights for your Facebook page or an organization you manage. If your account has been compromised and a hacker has revoked your page management privileges, you must report the account hijacking and request access restoration. If a fake administrator has removed your rights, you can only regain access by proving content ownership. If you discover a page related to your business that you don’t manage, request administrative rights or merge it with an existing page.
Steps
Recovering a Page When the Administrator’s Account is Compromised
Report the account hijacking to Facebook. If your personal Facebook account or the account of a page administrator is hacked, the hacker will also take control of the official business or organization page you own. If the compromised account owner cannot access their account, they must report the issue at https://www.facebook.com/hacked to regain access. Once Facebook confirms the incident, you can proceed with the steps below.
- If a former colleague revoked your access and no one in the business or organization has access, refer to the method Recovering a Page When Administrator Roles are Faked.
Access https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/1280439701975125. If you haven’t logged in with the compromised account and need to regain administrative rights for the page, do this first.
Select the page you want to restore administrative rights to. The menu displays pages your account previously had access to.
- If the hacker has reassigned you to a non-administrative role (such as moderator, analyst, or job manager), the page won’t appear in this menu. This is because you’re still part of the admin team. To proceed, you must remove your current role. To do this, click Settings on the page, select Page Roles from the left menu, click Edit under your account, and choose Remove.
Click Send (Send). This submits the report to Facebook. A Facebook representative will verify the account compromise and send verification instructions to your email. This process may take anywhere from one day to several weeks.
Recovering a Page When Administrator Roles are Faked
Log in to Facebook. If you can access the account that was previously an administrator of the Facebook page in question, log in using that account.
- Use this method if a fake administrator has revoked your administrative rights and still controls your page.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/634636770043106. This is Facebook’s official page for reporting copyright violations.
Select right (right). Additional options will appear below.
Choose Continue with your copyright report (Continue with your copyright report) and click Send (Send). You’ll see more options here.
Enter your contact details. To do this, click the circle next to "Provide your contact information" (Provide your contact information) and select "Me or my organization" (Me or my organization). Enter your name, title, address, phone number, email address, owner’s name, and location.
Click Provide the content you want to report (Provide the content you want to report). You’ll find this option below the contact information section.
Check the box next to "Other" (Other). This allows you to input the page’s URL instead of specific content.
Enter the full URL of the page. The information should be entered into the large text box.
- For example, if you own the Facebook page Mytour, enter www.facebook.com/Mytour.
Select Other and provide relevant details about the issue. Inform Facebook that you are the page administrator but the current administrator has revoked your access. Provide as much specific information as possible.
- For example, if an employee left the company without transferring administrative rights, enter specific details in the box but avoid unnecessary elaboration.
Provide copyright evidence. To do this, click Provide your copyrighted work (Provide your copyrighted work), select Other, and enter the necessary information (including the URL proving your ownership) to demonstrate your legal right to access.
- To attach files, such as business licenses, tax records, or other evidence, click Choose Files (Choose Files), select a file, and click Open (Open).
Click Confirm declaration statement (Confirm declaration statement) and read the content below. Ensure you fully understand the information provided before proceeding.
Select Yes (Yes) and click Submit (Submit). Facebook will contact you via email once a decision is made (or if additional evidence is required). Depending on the workload at Facebook’s copyright office, this process may take anywhere from 24 hours to several weeks.
Request Administrative Rights for an Unofficial Page
Visit the Facebook page you wish to claim. You might come across a page related to your business or organization that you didn’t create. This often happens when someone "checks in" at your location or the page is automatically generated by Wikipedia. To find a page related to your business or organization that you don’t manage, enter the page’s name in Facebook’s search bar and click the relevant result.
Click Is this your business? (Is this your business?). This link appears below the page’s cover photo at the top of the window, just to the right of the "Unofficial Page" (Unofficial Page) notification.
- If you don’t see this option, the page may already be managed by someone who can prove ownership of the business or organization.
Select the option to request administrative rights and click Continue (Continue).
- If you manage the official page for the business or organization and want to merge it with this page, select "Merge xxx into a Verified Page you manage" (Merge xxx into a Verified Page you manage).
- If you don’t have a page to merge, choose "Claim and verify xxx with a phone call or documents" (Claim and verify xxx with a phone call or documents).
Merge pages (optional). If you choose to merge a page with one you manage, you can proceed without extensive verification, provided the current page is verified and shares the same address, phone number, and relevant details. Follow these steps:
- Click Select Page (Select Page) from the dropdown menu.
- Choose the page you want to merge.
- Click Submit (Submit).
- If Facebook requires additional information to verify the merge, they will contact you for further instructions.
Request and verify page ownership (optional). If pages were merged in the previous step, this is unnecessary. If you’ve claimed administrative rights for an unmanaged page, you can complete verification via phone or by submitting official business documents to Facebook. After providing the required information, Facebook will review it and grant you administrative rights (or request additional details) within one day to several weeks.
- Phone verification:
- Enter the business or organization’s phone number and extension (if required). The number must be publicly listed and belong to the business or organization.
- Select the language for the verification call.
- Click Call Now (Call Now) when ready to receive the verification call.
- Enter the 4-digit code to complete verification.
- Document verification:
- Click Verify this Page with documents instead (Verify this Page with documents) at the bottom of the window.
- Scan or photograph an accepted document for upload. Accepted documents include utility bills, business licenses, tax records, incorporation certificates, or articles of incorporation. The address on the document must match your business or organization’s information.
- Click Choose File (Choose File).
- Select the document and click Open (Open).
- Click Submit (Submit).
Preventing Loss of Administrative Rights
Create and circulate a non-dispute agreement. This provides legal documentation if your account is compromised. All employees or users with access to your Facebook page must sign this agreement before being granted company account access.
Limit employee permissions on the page. When setting up a Facebook page, ensure no employee holds a role higher than Editor (Editor). This allows them to edit and create posts without the ability to revoke your administrative rights.
- You must retain the highest role, which is "Admin" (Admin). No one else should hold this role.
Monitor your page’s content regularly. If your employees post content that violates copyright or Facebook’s brand guidelines, your page may be suspended until the inappropriate content is removed.
Communicate with your employees. Employees who feel satisfied in their roles are less likely to attempt to hijack administrative accounts or steal intellectual property. Ensure you listen to and acknowledge their contributions to foster a healthy work environment.
Advice
- If a co-administrator has revoked your administrative rights, the first step is to address the issue with them politely.
- Due to the sensitive nature of account verification and disputes, Facebook will not grant you access to the page until you provide appropriate evidence.
