Account access

Meta removed people from our business portfolio for being inactive. How do we get them back, and will it happen again?

By The Tofu team ·

Re-invite them in Meta Business Suite under Settings, People, Invite people, then give back their assets. Delante reported in February 2025 that Meta removes people who haven't logged in for over six months, emails a notice, and allows an undo in Security Center for three months. Meta's own help doesn't describe these removals, so check Security Center first, then re-invite. If those reports are right, it can happen again to anyone who stays inactive. Meta itself tells admins to remove people who haven't logged in for 90 days, so have everyone who needs access log in regularly.

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As of November 2026.

Before you start

  • Full control of the business portfolio. Only people with full control can see People, add people and download the exports below. If the removals left no one with full control, see what to do when the only admin has left. Meta's request for full control needs ID, proof that you own the business and a signed attestation letter.
  • The email each person uses on Facebook, or their managed Meta account if your organization uses those. Meta says the email you invite must match the one on their Facebook account.
  • A list of what each person had: Pages, ad accounts, Instagram accounts and permission levels. Meta says removing a person "revokes their access to the business portfolio and any business assets" they had, so re-adding them doesn't bring those back on its own.
  • Accounts in good standing. Meta says neither you nor the person you're adding can have a disabled or restricted account.

Step 1: Confirm what happened and when

Download your business history, an activity log Meta keeps for each portfolio:

  1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite.
  2. On the People tab, open the Export dropdown and select Business history.
  3. Pick a date range, click Create export file, then Download.

Meta says the file lists actions "such as when new users are added, roles are updated," with the time, event type and who acted. Meta doesn't say how its own inactivity removals show up there. Also check the inbox of whoever has full control: Delante says Meta sends an email notification when it removes someone.

Step 2: Look for an undo in Security Center

Open Security Center from Settings in Meta Business Suite. According to Delante, "You then have 3 months to reinstate the user via the Security Center under Action completed. After this period, you will need to manually re-add them."

Treat that as a lead, not a promise. Meta's own Security Center article doesn't mention removals or an undo, so the screen may look different in your account, or not be there at all. Delante also doesn't say whether reinstating someone gives back their Pages and ad accounts, so check each person's assets afterwards.

Step 3: Re-invite anyone you can't restore

Meta's steps:

  1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite for your business portfolio.
  2. Click People in the left menu. If you can't see it, you may not have full control.
  3. Click Invite people in the top right.
  4. Enter the person's email address, or search for their managed Meta account. Click Next.
  5. Select their business portfolio permissions, then click Next.
  6. Select business assets and permissions, then click Invite.

By default, people get basic access. Give each person only what they need. If someone else with full control has to approve the change, they do it in Requests in Settings.

Step 4: Have each person accept

The person must accept your invitation. Meta says that once they join, it can take a few days before all features are available to them. Meta also says two-factor authentication is a requirement for business portfolios 90 days or older, so ask returning people to set it up before they log in.

Step 5: Check agency access and connected tools

  • Agencies. Meta says removing people from a business portfolio is different from removing partners. The reports above describe removals of people (users and admins), not partner businesses. If an agency was in your portfolio as people, consider partner access instead; see how to give an agency access to your Meta ad account.
  • Tools connected through a person's login. If a CRM sync, lead tool or report was set up with a removed person's Facebook login, it can lose access to your Pages and ad accounts along with that person. Check it, and reconnect it if needed. For software, Meta offers system users, which "represent servers or software that make API calls." None of the sources says whether inactivity removals apply to system users.

Step 6: Stop it happening again

Will it happen again? Probably, if the reports are right, for anyone who stays inactive. The sources disagree on how long "inactive" is:

SourceWhat it says
Delante (February 14, 2025)"Meta now automatically removes admins and users who haven't logged into Meta Business Suite for over 6 months." Email notice, 3 months to reinstate
Aligned Media (May 12, 2026)Meta is beginning to remove users who "haven't performed an action in a set period typically 90 to 180 days"
Meta's security advice"Remove people who haven't logged into the portfolio within the past 90 days, especially those with full control." It's on the list of fixes Security Center may urge you to make. This is advice to admins, not an automatic rule

Plan for the shortest of these:

  1. Have everyone who needs access log in to the portfolio at least monthly. That stays well inside 90 days.
  2. Export People and permissions each month. In Settings, on the People tab, open Export, select People and permissions, click Create export file, then Download. Meta says the file shows each person's role, "Last active date," active or inactive status and two-factor status. It tells you who is drifting toward inactive, and it's your record of who had what if you ever need to re-add them.
  3. Keep two active people with full control. Meta recommends (but doesn't require) "2 active people" with full control, and ideally 10 or fewer.
  4. Remove people who no longer need access yourself. That's Meta's own advice, and it means a removal never takes you by surprise.

Common problems

ProblemWhy it happensFix
A removed person sees "Something went wrong" when trying to rejoinReported in Sprout Social's community in February 2025. The poster said a similar error once cleared after about a weekWait a few days and send a fresh invitation. Check their account isn't disabled or restricted
You can't invite anyoneYou don't have full control, or you need to confirm your email address under Business info in SettingsConfirm your email, or ask someone with full control. If no one has it, request it
A personal Facebook account can't be invitedYour organization moved to managed Meta accounts, so invitations go only to managed accountsInvite their managed account, or change the setting under Security in Organization Manager
The person is back but can't see Pages or ad accountsRemoval took away their asset access, and new invitations start at basic accessAssign the assets in People. For assets a partner shared with you, you can give only the permissions that partner gave you
The invitation is stuckA second person with full control has to approve itThat person approves it in Requests in Settings
Some features are missing after they joinMeta says this can take a few daysWait, then check again

For a portfolio someone broke into, rather than one Meta cleaned up, see what to do when a Meta business portfolio is hacked.

Sources

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