Facebook Monetization and Censorship

A  couple of months ago on Facebook, my account was monetized. Despite my excitement it turns out I wasn't special. A TON off accounts were awarded monetization and people were excited. For anyone wondering what that means, its when you are in professional mode, and whatever their ever changing requirements are, you qualify and can earn ad revenue from a lot of posting "engaging content".

So, I took a run at seeing what if anything I could earn, but knowing my art and selling my art is my full priority. I committed to not being a dickhead on there and not relying on click bait and fake news. The thing is, I was one of the only ones. I followed several large accounts for tips on maximizing monetization. 

They all had almost the same advice. CHATGPT! Suddenly the feed was swarmed with hundreds of monetized account sharing AI slop images and text posts. The text posts are usually easy to spot as they have very generic wording, lame jokes or completely made up news stories and anecdotes. Tons of rage bait and hot takes just to get people to comment and engage. 

Here's the catch, Facebook monetized accounts have much stricter rules than the usual community standards. Facebook already has rather rigid standards, so if you're monetized you have to be even more careful what you post. 

My first month I made about 22.00 just posting about my art and things on my mind. Not terrible, but not going to retire off of that. 

In December 2025, I was up to around 35 or 40.00 when I commented a joke on a friends post. She asked something about what kind of Crystal is good for protection. I jokingly replied "Crystal meth" and Facebook was swift and brutal. My comment was immediately removed my FB's AI and my notifications blew up.

Comment was removed

Account restricted, I can't go live or run ads for 30 days. 

My account is no longer being recommended to non followers

Monetization removed or suspended. 

I was offered an appeal where I had to write out a statement and no idea how long it will take them to review it. They say I was promoting illegal drug use, I guess context isn't a thing. 

The funny thing is, my BEST post had almost 2000 views and I earned about .30 cents on that post. I know some people get millions of views and earn a lot more, I never unlocked that yet. Here is my theory: 

By monetizing thousands of accounts and getting everyone chasing literal pennies while following ever changing strict rules and constant moving goalposts, people are self censoring. They aren't speaking their minds, they aren't calling out awful things they see in the world and they are distracting themselves and others from the horrors currently happening in this country. Not that everyone's facebook has to be a political hand grenade. 

But I remember a few years ago conversations were a lot more engaging and not things like "What kind of fruit would you be?" or whatever randomness an AI came up with. Thankfully I suspected I would be suspended at some point. My account is mostly pretty wholesome, but I am rather sarcastic and can be snarky so it was just a matter of time. 

This being the holiday season, I've had four art sales in November and that almost trippled what I would have made with monetization this month. So I'm glad I didn't throw my whole life into this. Or pay hundreds for some coaching program that was gonna tell me to use a chatbot to generate hundreds of posts a day. 

I'm not even kidding. I saw one guy who said he makes 30K a month from Facebook, but posts almost 1000 times a day. I think my whole community would block or mute me if I posted that much.  

So that's my theory on monetization. I'm not saying don't use it if offered, go make that money. I'm saying relying on Meta for anything is a double edged sword that always works in their favor. Meta is notorious for changing rules and guidelines and not even telling you what they are or why, then one day you are suspended. 

This is why its often better to control your own platform if you have something to say, like your own blog or something. That is a whole different post about blogging platforms which I've explored a lot this past year debating how much focus I want to be on my blog or my art. Ultimately I just want people to buy my art, but I hope my blogs are helpful to folks. 

We'll see what happens with my appeal and I'll try to post an update from there. In the meantime, feel free to browse my site and my weird crazy art. I have a lot of things like blankets, t-shirts and prints to choose from so support an independent artist and enjoy the rest of your holidays!