Oops! 25 Times People Got Suspended Seconds After Hitting ‘Post

Even if you’ve always been cautious about what you post online, nothing prepares you for the secondhand embarrassment of Facebook resurfacing your old status updates from 10 or 15 years ago. Whether it’s a cringey song lyric you were obsessed with or a pointless “hello” on a friend’s public wall, looking back on those moments can be painfully awkward. But take comfort some people have posted things so unhinged that your mildly embarrassing updates barely register in comparison. In a Reddit discussion where one user asked, “What is the worst thing you or someone you know posted by mistake on social media?” the responses revealed some truly unforgettable blunders.

#1

Image source: catinreverse, RDNE Stock project/pexels (not the actual photo)

Yikes! That definitely qualifies as one of those social media blunders that people will never live down. Did he at least realize his mistake quickly, or did it stay up long enough for the whole family to see?

#2

Image source: Bogroleum, LinkedIn Sales Solutions/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That is next-level accidental posting. A “face swap” excuse? Bold move wonder how many people actually bought that! I can only imagine the chaos in the comments while he scrambled to delete it. Social media really does have a way of exposing people in ways they never intended.

#3

Image source: hirthquake, Pickawood/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Not sure if it technically counts as “social media” but we got a new spindle sander at work (carpentry shop) last year. If you don’t know what that is, picture a dowel about an inch around and 6 inches tall with sandpaper around it rotating very quickly while also moving up and down.

I took a video of it running with the caption “best seat in the house!” and sent it to what I thought was a WhatsApp group chat with my friends. Shortly after posting I realized it was, in fact, the group chat with the board members of my region’s chapter of an international college honors society.

I have never been so thankful that WhatsApp gives you the ability to delete a message. I still don’t know to this day if anyone saw it.

#4

Image source: standbyyourmantis, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Early Facebook was truly a cursed place. Between digital “gifts,” public wall posts, and people not understanding privacy settings, it was a minefield of accidental oversharing. Your dad really went all in on the cringiest ones too “spanking” and “slave Leia”?! That’s the kind of thing you wish you could unsee. No wonder it led to years of silence; that’s an extra layer of humiliation on top of an already messy situation.

#5

Image source: Robineggblue84, RDNE Stock project/pexels (not the actual photo)

On FB I belong to a close knit group of women I’ve known for 20 years…we have a private group. In a drunken rage at about midnight, I went to the group and posted a very long, detailed, post about how I was tired of my husband never wanting to have s*x and it had been YEARS and I was over it and over his drama and I’m sorry that his junk didn’t work and I mean just LAID IT OUT THERE. It was not kind but I was hurting and had been drinking and needed to vent but because of the hour I didn’t have anyone to call and these women knew of the issues to a lesser extent.

About 3 minutes after I posted a dear friend of mine, a few hours earlier in her evening due to time zones messaged and said, “Not sure if you intended that post to be public…but it is.” I took it down immediately and thanked her and she played therapist for awhile because clearly I needed it.

But for about 5 minutes intimate details of my non-s*x life and my husband’s ED were out there for the world to see…or at least all of our friends and family. As far as I know no one saw it because no one ever brought it up…or if they did they were kind enough to spare me embarrassment of it. I’m sure no one mentioned it to him because he’d have, rightfully, lost his s**t.

He’s an ex now and I’ve also quit drinking. Neither directly related to this incident though he is an ex due, in part, to the s*x situation.

#6

Image source: IrishWithoutPotatoes, Katka Pavlickova/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That’s a brutal way to learn how Instagram actually works! At least the account suspension saved you from any unintended audience—imagine if you had followers who got an unexpected artsy surprise in their feed. Definitely an unforgettable lesson in social media functionality!

#7

Image source: The-Proud-Snail, A. C./unsplash (not the actual photo)

That is next-level damage control! Honestly, given the circumstances, that was probably the best possible attempt at salvaging the situation. Hopefully, she bought it—or at least pretended to for your sake!

#8

Image source: Joshlov, sebastiaan stam/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Oof. That’s the kind of post that starts off heartfelt and then takes a very unfortunate turn. Did she ever realize what she had just admitted to, or did she double down on the “both sides” angle? Because that is definitely not the kind of Remembrance Day tribute she was going for!

#9

Image source: UltimaGabe, Frank Flores/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That’s both hilarious and kind of sad at the same time. It must be so jarring to see a real, unedited photo slip through the cracks like a glitch in the Matrix before she scrambles to fix it. The mental image of a perfectly normal family vacation with a borderline Final Fantasy character in the mix is killing me. Does anyone ever call her out on it, or is it just an unspoken rule to pretend her CGI transformation is totally normal?

#10

Image source: tangcameo, History in HD/unsplash (not the actual photo)

Someone posted something about loving JFK and I went posted what I thought was a nice normal gif of JFK, not knowing that it was a gif of the zapruder film when he gets shot in the head but over and over again at a seizure inducing speed.

#11

Image source: canned-fishasshole, Kelly Sikkema/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That’s got to be one of the most mortifying “wrong account” moments possible. At least you caught it quickly, but wow imagine the panic when she realized what had happened. On the bright side, you walked away with some unexpected knowledge about the thriving furry art economy. You really never do know what side hustles people have to keep the lights on!

#12

Image source: draggar, Vardan Papikyan/unsplash (not the actual photo)

My ex thought she was posting in a private chat. She admitted to having a few affairs.

What’s really sad is all the support she got for it and, of course, everyone said it was my fault.

Pretty much the only ones who criticized her and supported me over this were her two sisters.

#13

Image source: Smaaashley1036, Beth Macdonald/unsplash (not the actual photo)

My father liked the local swingers group, not realizing that activity would be seen by EVERYONE. Cue multiple calls to me by every single mutual friend… . And he couldn’t figure out how to undo it, so we made a one time deal that I would log into his account and do it for him and not look anywhere else. (Not that I wanted to, I’d already made that mistake when trying to locate a blank CD at our house. It was not blank…).

#14

Image source: ssandhanitizer, Victoria Romulo/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That might be the most unintentionally accurate caption of all time. Imagine scrolling through your feed, expecting an ATV, and instead getting an entirely different set of wheels. At least he caught it before it went too viral but those 16 people definitely got more than they bargained for!

#15

Image source: miseeker, cottonbro studio/pexels (not the actual photo)

That is peak accidental Facebook parenting. Nothing like a little unexpected family bonding over an unintentional full-frontal. At least your son had the decency to give you a heads-up before it became a viral sensation. Safe to say your wife’s photography privileges might need some restrictions from now on!

#16

Image source: Fast_Moon, Thought Catalog/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That’s a brutal way to get exposed. Early internet privacy settings were basically a ticking time bomb for this kind of thing. Did her husband (or anyone else) end up finding out, or was it just office gossip fuel?

#17

Image source: mike1883, DC Studio/freepik (not the actual photo)

A coworker of mine came to work with a neck brace. She said she wasn’t going to be able to work for a while. A few days later she posted a video of herself dancing at a party. Someone who didn’t like her told the company and she was fired.

#18

Image source: rawonionbreath, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

I ranted about my job and my dislike of my supervisor on MySpace. I worked for a political campaign at the time. A blogger for the opposition party found it and put it on blast. I was emptying out my desk the next morning. I deserved it and leaving that field was for the better in my personal life, but it was one of the most embarrassing and humiliating moments of my life. The thing has spread around the office like a wildfire and seeing everyone watch me be escorted out remains burned into my brain.

#19

Image source: emiliamarie, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

That is classic Facebook mom behavior. Nothing like accidentally broadcasting your own creeping attempts to the entire friend list. The panic must have been real when she realized what she did—especially with that follow-up status cementing the whole disaster. Did she ever figure out how to delete it, or did it just live on in family legend?

#20

Image source: SlashySpider, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)

There are some things the human brain is simply not built to process, and that is definitely one of them. No amount of eye bleach could ever erase that from your memory. Did she at least realize her mistake quickly, or was it up long enough to traumatize the entire family tree?