Facebook & Instagram: update

As many of you will be aware, CP Teens UK has had major issues with its Facebook and Instagram platforms since April 2024. This is due to a perceived breaking of rules - the abbreviation for 'Cerebral Palsy' (CP) was banned earlier in 2024 by Meta due to its association with illegal activity. The charity uses the CP abbreviation in its name, which means our posts, content and hashtags used this abbreviation too.

In April 2024, following a 24-hour ban, CP Teens UK was restricted on both platforms by Meta for a period of a year. This meant that during this period, we were 'flagged' and any posts/activity could risk loosing our platforms, content and following for good. As a result, we took the difficult decision to not use our Facebook or Instagram platforms during this period. This had a deep, negative impact on the charity, as well as the youngsters and community it serves, but it was an essential action in order to preserve over 10-years of content, community and following.

We were also prevented from changing the Facebook page name to 'Cerebral Palsy Teens' during this period, which was extremely frustrating - we were happy to accommodate Meta's new rules, but they wouldn't allow us to put things right.

CP Teens UK took a semi-hiatus period as a result. Although still operational, without social media it was incredibly difficult to have reach and engage with a lot of our community. We therefore took the negative situation as an opportunity to take a step back, rethink our delivery and come back stronger and better to support & empower youngsters and adults with Cerebral Palsy and physical disabilities.

Fast forward to October 2025 and CP Teens UK was just about to return to social media. We were unrestricted just before the summer, but not only were we still busy in the background with planning, designing the new website, working on relaunch etc., we wanted to absolutely make sure that our platforms were well out of any restrictions before we attempted to change our name and start posting again.

Out of the blue last week, Meta permanently deleted CP Teens UK and associated personal accounts that ran the charity's social media because they felt they/the charity were still engaging in illegal content.

We have worked so hard for over a decade keeping the CP Teens UK page running. We were very much looking forward to finally having our social media presence back and picking up where it left off in a couple of weeks time after having to take an enforced break. We had over 3k followers - all grown organically right from the very beginning of the charity and it brought together such a community - a community that often felt isolated and who rely on social media for connection and friendship. Photos, memories, resources - all lost, and all because Meta has wrongly assumed that ‘CP’ stands for something else. 

We are devastated. All that hard work, all the content going back right to the beginning, the community and the following - all gone.

We are desperately trying to contact Meta. We hope to update you soon.