To retrieve her Facebook account, Rachel Sines spent $400 to buy a tablet and headset.
After creating a group for those whose loved ones joined QAnon, Facebook removed her account.
Insider was told by the company that it had "incorrectly disabled Sines' account".
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Rachel Sines lost 15 year's worth of memories after Facebook removed her account for creating a support forum with the name "QAnon".
She was locked out after she spent more than $400 on Oculus VR headsets and Portal tablets to talk to customer service.
Sines attempted to contact Facebook seven months ago about her disabled account. She never received a reply. Insider reached out to Facebook about this article and she was only logged in once.
Insider was told by Sines from Florida that she was establishing a support group for people like her who had become involved in right-wing conspiracy theories, QAnon, in February.
She was locked out her account when she clicked "submit". She said that Facebook had notified her that her account had been disabled.
She said that she lost 15 years worth of data within a blink of an eye... My relationship journey, wedding, honeymoon, and videos of our daughter's baptism and first steps. It was almost like I had disappeared, with no trace of me.
Facebook has never heard of Sins
Sines, 42, made an appeal through Facebook's help centre. However, an automated message was sent to Insider stating that the company could not review its decision to remove her account because it did not follow the site's Community Standards.
She said that she had submitted the form multiple times per day for several weeks.
She sent three emails, one to appeals, one for the press department and one to 10 Facebook email addresses, but received no reply.
Insider received her receipts for her headset and Portal purchase and she sent them to Oculus and Facebook.
Sines bought an Oculus VR headset at $318
NPR reported that Oculus headsets have been purchased by Facebook users like Sines to access their deleted or hacked accounts. Oculus is a virtual-reality company that Facebook owns. To use the headset, users must have a Facebook account.
Sines' account began to work when she received her headset. However, it was soon disabled without warning, she stated.
According to emails obtained by Insider, Sines called Oculus about the problem again. According to Insider emails, an Oculus employee informed Sines that her account had been disabled because of "previous activity which violated Facebook's Community Standards."
"Unfortunately, they've already asked Facebook for a review of your account and they have decided that the status will continue," Oculus employee Sines stated in an email.
Also, Sines spent money on a Portal
She purchased a $90 Portal video-calling tablet from Facebook the next day.
Insider reviewed Sines' email to Portal customer support about retrieving her Facebook account in order to use the tablet. A Portal employee responded, saying that they couldn't help and directing her to Facebook's help centre.
"I reached out to a few lawyers, but they didn't want it touched, well, because of 'Facebook," she stated.
Sines said that she returned the headset in April and Portal in May.
Facebook reinstated her account seven years later
Sines' account was activated two days after Insider reached out to Facebook about her situation. Insider was told by a spokesperson for Facebook that Sines' account had been "incorrectly disabled" as well as "the account was mistakenly detected in one of our checks" regarding misinformation and harmful material.
The spokesperson stated that "sometimes we make mistakes when reviewing content."
Facebook spokesperson said that users should contact the help center and complete a form if their account has been deleted incorrectly.
Sines is worried about her account being disabled again but she is happy to be online.
She said, "It was like losing one limb. I didn't realize how intertwined they had become in my life."
