# Exmaples of FAANG incompetence

Multiple Large Entities

- [2021-05 Apple, its security contractor SIS, and the police wrongly handled a case with Apple's facial recognition, which was used in court to wrongly accuse Ousmane Bah](https://web.archive.org/web/20210529005443/https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/29/apple_sis_lawsuit/).

Government - USA

- [2021-07 An NYC business owner can't get a license renewal because of a circular problem with the government's renewal process](https://web.archive.org/web/20210712005825/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDjSoic9Zk).
- [2021-08 A massive database of over 1.9 million people on the terrorist and no-fly watch list was leaked from a misconfigured Elasticsearch cluster](https://web.archive.org/web/20210816165624/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/secret-terrorist-watchlist-with-2-million-records-exposed-online/).

Facebook/Meta

- [2021-04 533,000,000 Facebook users' personal data, including phone numbers, were leaked online](https://web.archive.org/web/20210403144253/https://www.businessinsider.com/stolen-data-of-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-2021-4?r=US&IR=T).
- [2021-09 Massive monetization schemes are harvesting clickbait through Facebook's systems](https://web.archive.org/web/20210927160948/https://www.politicalorphans.com/something-weird-is-happening-on-facebook/).
- [2021-10 Teenage girls' anxieties are exacerbated by using Instagram](https://web.archive.org/web/20211006125828/https://twitter.com/nireyal/status/1443882540868063241?s=21).
- [2022-01 A heavy metal community of 50,000 disappeared because scammers claimed ownership of the page](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30102240).
- [2022-06 This user was hacked, then Facebook blocked her out of her account](https://web.archive.org/web/20220610023623/https://emilycordes.com/facebook/).
- [2022-10 Meta blocked a developer's domain arbitrarily, which shut down 700 not-for-profit organizations in the process](https://web.archive.org/web/20221006120059/https://www.simonbackx.com/blocked-by-meta/).
- [2023-10 Advertising for the Python programming language and Pandas machine learning may flag you for illegally handling pythons and pandas, and after 180 days you will be permanently banned from Facebook](https://web.archive.org/web/20231019063224/https://lerner.co.il/2023/10/19/im-banned-for-life-from-advertising-on-meta-because-i-teach-python/).

Amazon

- [2021-07 Amazon doesn't do anything to prevent "brand hijacking"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210726152128/https://www.kleinbottle.com/Amazon_Brand_Hijacking.html).
- [2021-05 Amazon has a different policy for expensive products, and doesn't refund them, even if they shipped an empty box](https://web.archive.org/web/20210526200740/https://petapixel.com/2021/05/26/couple-buys-7000-camera-from-amazon-gets-empty-boxes-instead/).
- [2022-07 Amazon permits sellers that sell counterfeit textbooks](https://web.archive.org/web/20220723194937/https://twitter.com/fchollet/status/1550930876183166976).
- [2022-11 Amazon frequently permits scammers to dominate its marketplace](https://archive.is/20221203045038/https://medium.com/@david073/7-million-dollar-amazon-bankrupt-cf977fb085f5).

Apple

- [2021-01 Fraudulent developers are ripping off legitimate devs, and Apple doesn't care](https://web.archive.org/web/20210131224724/https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1356011069395755009).
- [2021-09 Apple flagged a blind developer from updating his game designed for blind people](https://web.archive.org/web/20210926064939/https://www.applevis.com/forum/accessibility-advocacy/apples-app-review-team-accessible-hangman).
- [2021-03 Apple randomly deleted this tech blogger's entire account](https://web.archive.org/web/20210302012837/https://dcurt.is/apple-card-can-disable-your-icloud-account) and [permanently disabled this other one until an executive had to re-enable it](https://web.archive.org/web/20211209212703/https://merecivilian.com/apple-broke-up-with-me/).
- [2022-05 Apple removed this developer's game from the App Store because it's more than two years old](https://web.archive.org/web/20220524045137/https://twitter.com/protopop/status/1517701619374338050).
- [2023-09 Sometimes, iCloud Drive will silently delete content without notification](https://web.archive.org/web/20230930164015/https://www.dominikmayer.com/2023/09/icloud-drive-silently-deletes-your-content/).
- [2023-10 Not setting up the Find My software on a MacBook runs the risk of bricking it](https://web.archive.org/web/20231013024349/https://www.tokyodev.com/articles/not-setting-up-find-my-bricked-my-macbook).

Google/Alphabet

- [2012-12 Chromebook speakers literally burn up because of bad computer design](https://web.archive.org/web/20130115185346/http://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2012/12/10/how-to-fry-speakers-in-your-chromebook/).
- [2021-04 Google's lawyer accidentally made a private document *very* public](https://web.archive.org/web/20210411010825/https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/when-googles-fancy-lawyers-screw).
- [2021-04 Google shut down the DroidScript app and developer account because of false claims of ad fraud](https://web.archive.org/web/20210424154604/https://groups.google.com/g/androidscript/c/Mbh5TZ6YYnA/m/GflwflqaDAAJ).
- [2021-04 If you're a software developer and ever happen to click on your ad as a user, Google can ban you](https://web.archive.org/web/20210428032409/https://danfabulich.medium.com/never-run-google-ads-if-you-have-an-android-app-897a20604450).
- [2021-03 If you link to certain user-uploaded content, Google may kill your site](https://web.archive.org/web/20210306181413/https://www.uploader.win/blog/).
- [2021-06 Google's knowledge graph algorithm accidentally mixed up a software engineer with a serial killer](https://web.archive.org/web/20210624184945/https://hristo-georgiev.com/google-turned-me-into-a-serial-killer), and [this is not an isolated incident](https://web.archive.org/web/20210818025337/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28216733).
- [2021-09 Google falsely flagged an uploaded video of armored vehicles in Google Drive](https://web.archive.org/web/20210922051832/https://support.google.com/drive/thread/127021326/google-has-locked-my-account-for-sharing-a-historical-archive-they-labeled-as-terrorist-activity?hl=en).
- [2021-07 Two-factor authentication routinely locks poor and elderly people permanently out of their Google accounts](https://web.archive.org/web/20220801114004/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f6HPQbUjslcbjVHkJkAgYmQmBV3PRRHEcx4WL5rxuE8/preview).
- [2021-09 The Linux Experiment YouTube channel was arbitrarily shut down](https://web.archive.org/web/20210913113140/https://twitter.com/thelinuxEXP/status/1434952628337795072).
- [2021-11 YouTube flags and shuts down public domain content](https://web.archive.org/web/20211110023207/https://www.improbable.com/2021/09/22/youtube-the-ig-nobel-prizes-and-the-year-1914/) as well as [perfectly legitimate copyrighted content](https://web.archive.org/web/20211019183028/https://larryjordan.com/articles/youtube-filmmakers-presumed-guilty-until-maybe-proven-innocent/), and this is a frequent problem. [This entrepreneur couple lost thousands of hours of work from an unresolved false-positive](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30401241).
- [2021-12 Google Pixel prevented this user from calling 911](https://web.archive.org/web/20211211153913/https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/r4xz1f/pixel_prevented_me_from_calling_911/), [this isn't an isolated incident](https://web.archive.org/web/20221124004549/https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/investigates-very-scary-cell-phone-issue-dialing-911/ZNT76HVHRRCB5AUVRTT7JL43DM/), and [hasn't been fixed as of 2 years later](https://web.archive.org/web/20230930095224/https://www.androidauthority.com/psa-google-pixel-911-emergency-calling-issues-3362990/).
- [2022-01 Sometimes Gmail locks someone out of their account permanently, without a means to get back in](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30051054).
- [2022-01 Google's search has been steadily deteriorating over the years](https://web.archive.org/web/20220124220609/https://www.surgehq.ai/blog/is-google-search-deteriorating-measuring-search-quality-in-2022), and [the entire first page of some searches are nothing but ads as of 2022](https://web.archive.org/web/20220205232131/https://twitter.com/spakhm/status/1489480845979095040).
- [2022-01 Google Play app developers have difficulty complying with Google's vague, constantly changing standards](https://web.archive.org/web/20220118162140/https://sylviavanos.nl/blog/2021/12/24/google_play_hell.html).
- [2022-06 YouTube canceled this user because of a Nextcloud How-To video](https://web.archive.org/web/20220603090144/https://mccormick.cx/news/entries/youtube-cancelled-my-nextcloud-how-to-video).
- [2022-05 FairEmail was removed from the Google Play Store without any clear explanation](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31432334).
- [2022-05 This developer's Google account was deactivated because it was "associated" with another former Google employee](https://web.archive.org/web/20220506220044/https://old.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/ts6jfg/google_has_terminated_our_developer_account_says/).
- [2022-07 YouTube removes a criticism of the dangerous practice of using a microwave to wood burn, but leaves up the tips](https://web.archive.org/web/20220702001022/https://boingboing.net/2022/07/01/youtube-removes-criticism-of-dangerous-fractal-wood-burning-instructions-but-leaves-up-the-lethal-tips.html).
- [2022-07 YouTube shut down the ambient music channel Lofi Girl accidentally due to a non-specific copyright strike](https://web.archive.org/web/20220712104314/https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-62133768).
- [2022-07 Google Drive removed a Google Sheets document that archived a local political election](https://web.archive.org/web/20220713162938/https://twitter.com/mkramer/status/1547256544332488708).
- [2022-07 Google Ads may block you for "suspicious activity", but not indicate why or how to resolve it](https://web.archive.org/web/20220726123850/https://paulbutler.org/2022/why-is-it-so-hard-to-give-google-money/).
- [2022-08 Google Cloud suspended all of this developer's production projects from a billing error in their system](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32547912).
- [2022-08 Google flagged a father as a criminal for taking medical photos of his naked toddler](https://archive.ph/tL6wk).
- [2022-09 Google broke its Creative Commons filter for Image Search, but hasn't done anything about it](https://web.archive.org/web/20220927072701/https://cogdogblog.com/2022/09/google-broke-cc-image-search/).
- [2022-09 Google Pixel 6 still freezes when calling Emergency Services](https://web.archive.org/web/20220904045335/https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/x5ea32/life_and_death_down_to_a_software_glitch/).
- [2022-10 Pushbullet was steadily harassed by Google Play Store's software for arbitrary privacy policy violations](https://web.archive.org/web/20221027174837/https://blog.pushbullet.com/2022/10/27/how-we-became-the-worlds-foremost-expert-on-google-play-store-policy-violations).
- [2022-10 To comply with Google's arbitrary policies, the Voys Telecom app on the Google Play Store was forced to perform worse regarding phone contacts](https://web.archive.org/web/20221020114538/https://www.voys.co.za/blog/how-google-is-forcing-us-to-make-our-open-source-app-worse/).
- [2022-10 Google locks homeless people out of their Gmail account if they lose their phone](https://web.archive.org/web/20221006202746/https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1577880638044020736), and [it affects anyone poor enough to not have more than one internet-connected device](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33963269).
- [2022-12 Doing a chargeback against Google can get you banned](https://web.archive.org/web/20230204083856/https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/zndbku/tifu_by_accidentally_buying_two_google_pixels_and/).
- [2022-12 Google removed this developer's Yubikeys from his account and banned him without a remediation process](https://web.archive.org/web/20221227072456/https://lunnova.dev/articles/google-just-to-be-safe/).
- [2022-12 Google sometimes prevents someone from using the intellectual property they lawfully paid for if it's not connected to the internet for a while](https://web.archive.org/web/20221225220233/https://deijin.bearblog.dev/im-done-with-google/).
- [2023-02 Google search can sometimes yield scammers' ads as top results](https://web.archive.org/web/20230224033733/https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1628948906657878016).
- [2023-03 Google Drive puts an undocumented hard limit on how many files you can have, even if you're paying for its service](https://web.archive.org/web/20230331183021/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/google-drive-does-a-surprise-rollout-of-file-limits-locking-out-some-users/).
- [2023-06 YouTube is testing out permanently blocking users who use ad blockers](https://web.archive.org/web/20230628202558/https://www.androidpolice.com/youtube-ad-blockers-three-strikes/).
- [2023-10 A Google-verified advertiser provides KeePass malvertising](https://web.archive.org/web/20231019045124/https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/10/google-hosted-malvertising-leads-to-fake-keepass-site-that-looks-genuine/).

Microsoft

- [2021-09 Microsoft Teams is garbage software that even slows high-powered computers down](https://web.archive.org/web/20211116164908/https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams/teams-is-killing-my-mac-every-day/m-p/2790094).
- [2021-12 An automated system at Microsoft forked an MIT-licensed software, then changed its license](https://web.archive.org/web/20211227131802/https://github.com/microsoft/grpc_bench/commit/04c7143a39a0bb243369e31f3b3b797449468fdb).
- [2022-02 Outlook is asking if you want a slower experience with more ad space](https://web.archive.org/web/20220220191444/https://twitter.com/louisnicholls_/status/1487179285177815047), though [this is a likely attempt to comply with an EU law that requires ads to not look like emails](https://web.archive.org/web/20220220192618/https://www.insideprivacy.com/european-union-2/court-of-justice-of-the-eu-finds-that-advertising-shown-in-email-inbox-is-subject-to-rules-on-direct-marketing/).
- [2022-04 Setting a GitHub repo to private, even for a few seconds, will remove *all* social indicators of watchers and stars, effectively rendering your repo unpopular](https://web.archive.org/web/20220414183939/https://httpie.io/blog/stardust).
- [2023-01 GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34600985).
- [2023-02 Sometimes, an arcane Active Directory setting can allow an organization to take over your personal account](https://web.archive.org/web/20230225061310/https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/my-daughters-school-took-over-my-personal-microsoft-account).
- [2023-04 Microsoft's GitHub Copilot AI is trained on GPL code, meaning it's unlawful for them to profit off it](https://web.archive.org/web/20230421183002/https://codeium.com/blog/copilot-trains-on-gpl-codeium-does-not).
- [2023-06 Windows mistranslated a zip file as a "postcode file" in UK localization](https://web.archive.org/web/20230606160932/https://twitter.com/JymFox/status/1665799627377975300).

Stripe

- [2021-09 Stripe banned this developer without any explanation](https://justuseapp.com/page/stripe-ban).
- [2022-07 Stripe flagged an entire cell phone store's business without justification](https://web.archive.org/web/20221221064138/https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/wa230m/tifu_by_using_stripe_as_a_payment_processor_for/).
- [2022-09 Stripe banned a user without explanation, along with a large block of others](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32854528).
- [2022-12 Stripe held over $400,000 of someone's money with no explanation](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34233011).

eBay

- [2022-05 eBay banned this Hacker News user without any explanation](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31305341).
- [2023-02 Creating a new eBay account can flag you as a risk to the community](https://web.archive.org/web/20230223160810/https://twitter.com/rafahari/status/1628765429790277632).

Twitter/X

- [2022-04 Twitter's UX has deteriorated terribly in the past few years](https://web.archive.org/web/20220417023244/https://annoying.technology/posts/e6901c0ea272f57d/).
- [2022-08 Twitter's moderation team has not served to prevent a journalist's potential defamation and persecution](https://web.archive.org/web/20220828095439/https://waqas.xyz/post/).
- [2022-08 A clip from the game Stray got a video game journalist instantly banned](https://web.archive.org/web/20220826224717/https://www.fanbyte.com/games/features/how-a-clip-from-stray-got-me-banned-from-twitter/).

Cloudflare

- [2023-02 Cloudflare banned a small developer without explanation after a business relationship for 4 years](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34639212).
- [2023-08 Cloudflare blocked a Firefox user because he was using privacy-protecting software](https://web.archive.org/web/20230817023913/https://jrhawley.ca/2023/08/07/blocked-by-cloudflare).
- [2023-09 Cloudflare can sometimes block an IP from the internet](https://web.archive.org/web/20230731205555/https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cloudflare-ip-blockade.html).

Other

- [2014-02 Dell computers that run standard VLC media player software void the warranty](https://archive.is/OsopH).
- [2021-12 Tinder permanently banned this person without any explanation why](https://web.archive.org/web/20211223221840/https://paulefou.com/blog/tinder-permaban).
- [2021-12 After enough time, Ubisoft may delete accounts where customers own games](https://web.archive.org/web/20211227052019/https://mmos.com/news/ubisoft-deleted-account-with-hundreds-of-dollars-worth-of-games-for-inactivity).
- [2022-02 The government COVID-19 contact tracing app Luca has been a complete train wreck](https://web.archive.org/web/20220208111630/https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2021/luca-app-ccc-fordert-bundesnotbremse).
- [2022-06 Dropbox deleted the account of the creator of the Rick and Morty TV show for no clearly obvious reason](https://web.archive.org/web/20220610192816/https://twitter.com/JustinRoiland/status/1534670496402268160).
- [2022-07 Tesla accidentally replaced its car battery with a higher-range one, then downgraded it with software during an update](https://web.archive.org/web/20220726173029/https://twitter.com/wk057/status/1551713024171548672).
- [2023-02 PayPal can sometimes randomly block users](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34913596), like [for a license key that contained "ALEP"](https://web.archive.org/web/20230328074857/https://twitter.com/littlesnitch/status/1640436716895870985).
- [2022-04 Installing school monitoring software incorrectly can hold your private computer hostage](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30911623).
- [2022-08 Oracle arbitrarily suspended this developer's account](https://web.archive.org/web/20220802140547/https://batin.sh/blog/oracle-suspended-my-account/).
- [2023-01 Heroku may delete your database permanently with no warning](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34598563).
- [2023-06 An expensive tourist submarine that went missing near the Titanic was operated with a $30 Logitech game pad](https://web.archive.org/web/20230620165941/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/06/submarine-missing-near-titanic-used-a-30-logitech-gamepad-for-steering/).
- [2023-09 Discord arbitrarily deleted a 7-year user for posting innocuous technical information](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37364605).