Facebook flaw means Page creators can easily lose admin rights

There is a growing problem in the world of Facebook Pages. It is becoming known that administrators can remove the original creator’s administrator rights. In many cases, this can result in years of work going down the drain.

Some argue that this is working as intended: if the creator of a Facebook Page sets someone else as an administrator, they should have the same administrative rights as them. The trouble is, this is not what users are expecting. A question on the Facebook Help Center clearly states otherwise (emphasis mine):

A Page can have multiple administrators. Each Page administrator will need to have their own business account or personal account. Every admin can manage the Page from their own Facebook account using the “Page Manager” application that will appear in the left hand column of the Applications section once they become an admin for a Page. Every admin has equal access to and the same abilities as the other admins for a Page, however the original creator of the Page may never be removed by other Page admins.

Sophos has created the above video that demonstrates how a newly-appointed Page administrator can remove the Page creator’s administrator status. Facebook Page creators thus need to be weary of recruiting additional administrators to help them manage a growing number of fans.

Extra administrators can have malicious plans for taking over your Facebook Page. Even if they don’t though, every extra administrator you add is an additional security hole: if their account gets hijacked by someone else, in addition to their account, your Facebook Page could be taken over as well.

Facebook Pages are nowadays used as part of marketing campaigns and are often critical to the promotion of small businesses, brands, and celebrities. There’s very little cost for a potentially huge amount of publicity.

It goes without saying that the more time you’ve spent building a Page and the more Likes you have, the worse it would be to lose administrative rights to a Page. The new administrator can potentially destroy the image of whatever you are promoting by sending scams, spam, and/or malware to your users.

I have contacted Facebook for an explanation of this issue. If I hear back, I will update this post accordingly.