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🛡️ Testimony · The Silence

The Platforms That Shut Me Out — Meta

When I reached out to the safety systems that exist precisely for people in my position, they blocked me.

I reached out to Meta's safety channels — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp — to report what had happened to me. I was blocked.

That is the part I want people to understand: these are the tools a person in danger is told to use. The big blue "report" button. The help centre. The safety team. And when I, a disabled gay survivor, tried to use them, the system shut me out.

It is the same pattern everywhere. I reach for help, and the door closes. The health board will not comment. The court records me as absent when I was there. The landlord ignores me. And now even the safety channel of the largest social platform on earth blocked me from asking for protection.

I am not asking Meta to take my word for anything. I am asking to be heard — which is the one thing I have been denied at every single turn.

This page is the record. Love is love. No one left behind.

If reading this reaches you and you are struggling: Samaritans 116 123 · Breathing Space 0800 83 85 87 · NAPAC 0808 801 0331. You are not alone.
Written in Darren's own voice, 16 September 2026 · Caring for No 1 · Darren Houston Limited.