--- title: "Facebook is blocking or refusing my Page's replies" url: https://www.mentbot.com/help/facebook-blocking-replies description: "Public replies blocked, Sending slowed or Private replies paced? What Facebook is holding back, what Mentbot does meanwhile, and what to change." updated: 2026-10-20 related: - https://www.mentbot.com/help/avoid-reply-blocks - https://www.mentbot.com/help/why-no-reply - https://www.mentbot.com/help/private-reply-to-commenters --- # Facebook is blocking or refusing my Page's replies Facebook is holding back your Page's replies for a while, usually because many of them were the same text with a link. Mentbot stops sending what Facebook refuses, keeps sending the rest, and picks up again by itself when Facebook lifts it. ## Facebook is blocking your public replies {#reply-block} Facebook refuses every public reply the Page posts through an app, as a penalty on the Page rather than on one comment. It starts after the Page posts many replies that look alike, most often with the same link. Facebook doesn't say how long it lasts. In Mentbot's data from about 30 Pages (Aug–Oct 2026), most blocks lasted from under an hour to a day and a half, and a few lasted more than a week. While it lasts, Mentbot: - skips public replies, and still sends private replies, likes and hides - sends one comment's public reply every 30 minutes as a test, and starts replying again when one goes through - puts a comment that got nothing at all in **No reply sent**, marked **Facebook blocked public replies on this page** What to do: 1. Open [Pages](https://app.mentbot.com/dashboard/pages) and choose the Page. It shows **Public replies blocked**. ![Page settings for Bella Fashion Shop with badge 1 on the Public replies blocked notice](https://www.mentbot.com/help/img/facebook-blocking-replies/reply-block.webp "The notice stays until a test reply goes through.") 2. Move links out of your Rules' public replies and into the private reply, and give each Rule a few versions of its reply. See [Avoid getting your Page's replies blocked](https://www.mentbot.com/help/avoid-reply-blocks#set-up-rules). 3. Wait. Only Facebook can lift the block, and reconnecting the Page doesn't help. Mentbot notices within 30 minutes. 4. When the notice is gone, answer the comments it skipped: [Catch up after a block](#catch-up). ## Facebook refuses replies that carry one link {#links-in-public-replies} Facebook's spam filter weighs how many replies a Page posts, how alike they are, and whether they link somewhere. Links count the most. Some links it refuses in comment replies every time, even when other replies go through. How to tell: replies with the same link fail and say **Meta had a temporary problem and this didn’t go through, even after we tried again for 30 minutes.** Facebook's own words are "An unknown error has occurred." Replies without the link post fine. 1. Open [Pages](https://app.mentbot.com/dashboard/pages), choose the Page, and press **Edit** on the Rule. 2. Delete the link from every reply under **Comment replies**. End the reply with something like "Sent you the details, check your message requests". 3. Put the link in **Send a message to the inbox**. Facebook accepts links in private replies. 4. Press **Save settings**. 5. If your **Auto first comment** posts the same link, take it out there too. Mentbot can't see Facebook's filter or appeal it. The Rule editor warns you when a public reply has a link. ## Why replying by hand on Facebook still works {#reply-by-hand} The block covers replies that apps send through Facebook, Mentbot included. A reply you type in Facebook or Meta Business Suite goes through Facebook's own app, so it usually still works. A reply you send from Mentbot's **Comments** goes through the app, so Facebook refuses it too. Answer urgent comments by hand on Facebook until the block lifts. ## Sending slowed after a block lifts {#sending-slowed} 1. Open [Pages](https://app.mentbot.com/dashboard/pages). The Page shows **Sending slowed**. ![Pages list with badge 1 on the Sending slowed label under Noi Kitchen](https://www.mentbot.com/help/img/facebook-blocking-replies/slowed.webp "A block on this Page lifted in the last day.") 2. Leave it. For one day after a block lifts, Mentbot sends the Page's replies a minute apart instead of every 10 seconds, because Pages in our data were often blocked again soon after. It ends by itself. Comments wait their turn meanwhile and show **Scheduled**. One that waits more than a day is skipped and shows **Waited over 24 hours**. ## Private replies paced {#private-replies-paced} Facebook limits how many private replies the Page may send, to about 50 a day. Its allowance refills one message every 28.8 minutes (24 hours ÷ 50), on Facebook's own clock (measured from 339 private replies on one Page, Oct 2026). Public replies, likes and hides carry on. The limit covers every app that sends from your Page, not only Mentbot. A burst of identical private replies usually sets it off. Mentbot sends a private reply whenever Facebook's allowance has one free, about one every 30 minutes, and skips the rest. A skipped one isn't sent later on its own, and its comment says **Messenger paused: Meta is limiting this page**. Two hours after Facebook last refused one, Mentbot tries again at full speed to see whether the limit has lifted. 1. Open [Pages](https://app.mentbot.com/dashboard/pages). The Page shows **Private replies paced**. ![Pages list with badge 1 on the Private replies paced label under Bella Fashion Shop](https://www.mentbot.com/help/img/facebook-blocking-replies/paced.webp "Public replies keep going while private replies are paced.") 2. Give each Rule's private reply two or three versions: under **Send a message to the inbox**, press **+ Add reply message**. 3. Wait. Facebook may explain the limit in your Page's Support Inbox or Account Status. The ones we've seen lasted from a day and a half to several days. 4. When **Private replies paced** is gone, send the skipped messages: [Catch up after a block](#catch-up). ## Catch up after a block {#catch-up} 1. Wait until the Page no longer shows **Public replies blocked** or **Private replies paced**. 2. Open [Comments](https://app.mentbot.com/dashboard/comments) and choose **No reply sent**. 3. Select the comments, choose **Run my rules**, and press **Send**. Step by step: [Catch up with Bulk reply](https://www.mentbot.com/help/why-no-reply#bulk-reply). Bulk reply sends a private reply only to comments less than 7 days old, and posts at most one public reply a minute on each Page. Comments that got their private reply during a block keep it. Mentbot doesn't post their public reply later. > [!WARNING] > Use **Run my rules** rather than **Write one message** for a big catch-up. One message gives every comment the same text, the pattern that set off the block. ## On Instagram {#instagram} - Instagram can block an account's public replies the same way. Mentbot handles it the same way, and the dashboard says Instagram where it says Facebook for a Page. - Reply by hand in the Instagram app while the block lasts. - Links in Instagram comments can't be tapped anyway, so the private reply is the right place for them. ## If it still doesn't work {#still-not-working} ### The block has lasted for days {#block-lasts-days} Only Facebook decides when it ends. Check your Page's Support Inbox and Account Status in Meta Business Suite for a notice or a way to appeal. Meanwhile keep links out of public replies. Mentbot keeps testing every 30 minutes and starts replying again on its own. ### Facebook says my comments didn't follow its spam standards {#spam-standards} That's stricter than a block: Facebook judged the replies themselves to be spam. Rewrite your Rules' replies in several versions with no link, and hold off on Bulk reply until public replies work again. ### Private replies fail but the Page doesn't show Private replies paced {#private-replies-fail} Facebook allows one private reply per comment, within 7 days of it. See [Facebook's rules for private replies](https://www.mentbot.com/help/private-reply-to-commenters#facebook-rules).