Meta confirmed the problem for some Facebook accounts in Vietnam, but confirmed that removing profile pictures is not a recommended security measure.
Sharing with Vietnamese media on the afternoon of January 6, Meta said it had recorded a technical problem that affected a number of accounts in Vietnam. “We are prioritizing processing and have restored some accounts,” Meta representative said, but did not give specifics or progress of the fix.
This announcement took place in the context of many social networking sites in Vietnam, including fanpages with millions of followers, suddenly disappearing over the weekend. Some pages said they were blocked by Facebook, others said they proactively stopped operating to avoid being “scanned”.
In addition, social networks also spread the information “delete avatars and cover photos to avoid hacker attacks”, causing many fanpages to proactively remove photos, although experts confirmed that the information was inaccurate.
Regarding this issue, Meta representative said that Facebook has integrated security layers such as login warnings and two-factor authentication to enhance account protection, and recommends that users regularly review their security and privacy settings.
“Changing the default profile picture is not part of these security measures,” Meta said.
Advice on deleting profile pictures to avoid having your account locked spreads on Facebook, January 2026. Image: Bao Lam
According to some experts in the field of online advertising, users’ concerns come from dealing with account reports. To limit this situation or avoid being reported again after regaining the page, administrators often proactively hide avatars and cover photos.
Especially during the holiday period, troubleshooting can take a long time. Therefore, many account owners have hidden their pages or deleted their photos to avoid being reported. However, this can also cause some problems. For example, during a transaction, if the account does not have a profile picture, the other side may mistakenly think the account has been hacked and become cautious.