Facebook

What the Facebook channel is

Facebook Messenger is Meta's consumer messaging product; the business side runs on the Messenger Platform, which lets approved apps like IcloneU send and receive messages on behalf of a Facebook Page. When you connect, IcloneU subscribes to Meta's webhooks for that Page, so two kinds of activity flow into your Messages surface:

• Messenger DMs — private messages a customer sends to your Page. Your Clone reads them, retrieves from its Knowledge library, and replies — subject to the 24-hour window (below).
• Page-post comments — public comments on your Page's posts. The Clone can reply to these too; comment handling is governed by the Post options section of the Connection's settings, with held-vs-auto behavior gated by the comment-related Response authorizations.
• One channel, both surfaces. You don't set up comments and DMs separately — a single Facebook Connection covers both. (Under the hood they're different Meta webhook events, but from your side it's one channel.)

You add Facebook from the Connections page. Once active, it shows up there as a row identified by the Page name, and incoming Messenger messages and comments appear in the Messages surface tagged with the channel.

Requirements

Before you start the Connect flow, make sure all four of these are true. Most failed connects trace back to a missing one:

Not an Admin? Ask an existing Page Admin to add you (Facebook → Page → Settings → Page roles → Add person → Admin — the change needs their own Facebook session to confirm), or have that Admin run the Connect flow. If the Admin connects, the Connection lives in your IcloneU account but the OAuth grant traces to their Facebook account, so a future reconnect needs that same Admin again.

Connecting a Page

With a Page you administer, the whole thing takes 5–15 minutes — most of it inside Meta's OAuth screens, which are largely outside IcloneU's control. IcloneU starts the flow, Meta handles login, Page selection and permissions, then hands you back to IcloneU with the Connection created.

1. Start a new Facebook connection

   Open Connections in the left sidebar, click New connection, and pick Facebook. A short intro screen explains that you'll be redirected to Meta and reminds you that you must be an admin of the Page. Click through to start the redirect.

2. Sign in with Facebook

   Meta opens its login flow. Sign in with the personal Facebook account that administers the Page you want to connect.

   Tip

   If you're already logged in to Facebook in this browser, Meta may skip the login screen and go straight to Page selection or permissions.

3. Pick the Page to connect

   Meta shows a Page picker listing every Page your account administers. Select the Page that should be the Messenger inbox for this Connection.

   Heads up

   If the list is empty, your account isn't an Admin on any Page — you either need to create a Page at facebook.com/pages/create or have an existing Admin add you with the Admin role. Editor / Moderator / Advertiser / Analyst Pages won't appear.

4. Select your Business Portfolios (if asked)

   If your Pages are managed through a Business Portfolio (Meta Business Suite), Meta also asks which Businesses IcloneU can access. Tick every Business Portfolio that owns Pages you want, or choose the opt-in-to-all option.

   Heads up

   A Business you leave unticked stays invisible to IcloneU — even for Pages you're an Admin of and selected in the previous step. If a Page you expected is missing later, an unticked Business is the usual reason.

5. Review and keep all permissions

   Meta lists what IcloneU is requesting — the core one is pages_messaging (send and receive Messenger messages for the Page), plus pages_read_engagement (to read your Page's posts and comments) and pages_manage_metadata (to subscribe to the Page's webhooks). Do not toggle any off, then approve.

   Note

   Meta lets you switch individual permissions off, but IcloneU needs all of them to read and respond to comments and messages. Turning off pages_messaging in particular stops Clone replies entirely.

6. Return to IcloneU and verify

   After Meta's flow finishes, you're redirected back to the Connections page. The new Facebook Connection should appear identified by the Page name, with an active status indicator. Meta shows a message like "Your account was successfully authenticated. Choose the Facebook pages that you want IcloneU to connect to." along the way.

To connect several Pages, run this flow once per Page — each becomes its own Connection identified by its Page name. If you administer multiple Pages on one Facebook account, you won't have to log in again each time; you just pick the next Page in Meta's picker.

Attaching a Clone and enabling

A connected Page routes messages and comments into IcloneU, but nothing gets answered until you attach a Clone. Without one, inbound queues in Messages but no reply goes out. Select the Facebook Connection's row on the Connections page to open its settings, then work through the panel:

1. Pick the Clone

   Choose the Clone from the Clone dropdown — "The clone that will reply on behalf of this integration." This is the persona and Knowledge library that answers on this Page. On a fresh connect the dropdown may auto-populate, but you still have to Save for it to stick.

2. Confirm the Connection is Enabled

   The Enabled toggle controls whether the Connection is live: "When off, incoming messages and comments for this account are ignored. Tokens are kept so you can re-enable without reconnecting." Leave it on.

3. Set Response authorizations

   Under Response authorizations required for, tick the response types the Clone is allowed to send (Answers, Thanks, Content moderation, Outside scope, and so on). These let you scope what the Clone handles automatically versus what it leaves for you. These authorizations apply to post-comment replies only — Messenger DMs always send immediately regardless of what you tick here.

4. Set Post options (comments)

   The Post options section — "Control how AI replies handle your public posts and comments." — governs the comment side: whether New posts generate responses automatically, whether to Limit which posts I respond to, and related comment behavior. This section is why one Facebook Connection can cover both DMs and comments.

   Tip

   Running another comment tool on this Page? Add its trigger words under Muted comment keywords: "Comments that contain one of these get no AI reply — neither public nor DM." Press Enter after each keyword.

5. Confirm the AI identifier

   Facebook is a post-capable channel, so the panel shows a required AI identifier ✨ card: "Confirm the AI identifier is visible on this profile before enabling the Clone." Switch on its checkbox — "I have added the ✨ AI identifier and disclosure to this profile." — to confirm you've added the AI identifier and disclosure to this Page. While the connection is Enabled and this box is unchecked, Save stays disabled and the card shows the hint "Required before enabling this integration." Once you tick it and save, the card instead reads "Confirmed on {date}."

   Heads up

   On Facebook, Instagram and YouTube this confirmation is mandatory — with the connection Enabled, you can't Save until it's switched on. WhatsApp, Telegram, Email and Web chat don't show this card.

6. Save

   Click Save. With the connection Enabled, Save only goes through once the AI identifier ✨ confirmation above is switched on. The attachment then persists — customer DMs and comments start getting answered by the Clone. The response authorizations you set apply to post-comment replies only; Messenger DMs are always answered immediately, regardless of authorizations.

For the full walk-through of attaching a Clone, response authorizations and reply timing across every channel, see Assigning a Clone to a platform.

The 24-hour messaging window

This is the single biggest gotcha on Facebook, and it's Meta's rule, not IcloneU's. Messenger has a 24-hour standard messaging window: the clock starts from the last message the customer sent to your Page, and each new inbound from them resets it to a fresh 24 hours. Inside the window, your Clone replies freely. Outside it, Meta's Send API rejects free-form replies with a policy error — so a Clone that answered fine yesterday can go silent on an old thread today.

• Per-customer, per-Page. Each customer-Page pair has its own window. One customer messaging you doesn't open the window for anyone else.
• Only the customer's message opens or resets it. Sending an outbound doesn't extend the window — only a fresh inbound from the customer does.
• Absolute UTC elapsed time. It's 24 hours of real time, not a calendar-day boundary; time zones are irrelevant.
• Comments aren't subject to the 24-hour window. The window governs Messenger DMs. Public post comments follow the Post-options rules instead.

To reach a customer after the window closes, Meta defines three paths — and one of them changed in 2026 (see the callout):

• HUMAN_AGENT tag — extends to 7 days after the customer's last message, but only for messages handled by an actual human agent, not an automated Clone reply.
• Utility Messages — templated, transactional notifications (order updates, account changes, event reminders). You author a template, Meta approves it for a category, you send within that category. Similar in spirit to WhatsApp templates.
• Marketing Messages API — opt-in promotional re-engagement; the customer must have explicitly opted in. Meta enforces frequency and unsubscribe controls. Not available in the EU.

Troubleshooting

Diagnose from the Messages surface first: if the customer's inbound message appears there but no reply went out, it's a Clone-side or window issue; if the inbound never appears at all, it's a webhook-side (delivery) issue. That one split tells you which half of the list to work through.

The Clone isn't replying, but the message arrived. Walk these in order:

• No Clone attached. Connections page → the Facebook Connection → confirm a Clone is selected and you clicked Save. This is the most common cause on a brand-new Connection.
• The 24-hour window closed. Check the customer's last inbound timestamp. More than 24 hours ago means free-form replies are blocked — use HUMAN_AGENT (human follow-up, 7 days), a Utility Message, or the Marketing Messages API.
• Knowledge library is set to refuse. If "Answer from library only" is on and the library has no matching content, or lookup strictness is too tight on a small library, the Clone stays silent by design. Try Balanced strictness.
• The comment is muted. If it's a comment, check Muted comment keywords in the Connection settings — a matching keyword means no AI reply and no AI DM, on purpose — your own automations still run.
• The send failed with a deprecated tag. A failed outbound referencing CONFIRMED_EVENT_UPDATE / ACCOUNT_UPDATE / POST_PURCHASE_UPDATE means the config needs migrating to Utility Messages (see the window section).

Customer messages never reach IcloneU. This is the webhook side — the inbound doesn't show in Messages at all:

• Confirm they messaged the right Page. Customers sometimes message a similarly-named Page. Have them confirm it matches your Connection's Page name.
• Check the message reached Meta. Open the Page in Meta Business Suite → Inbox. If recent customer messages appear there but not in IcloneU, the webhook subscription is broken — disconnect and reconnect the Connection to force Meta to re-establish it.
• Confirm IcloneU is still authorized. Facebook → Settings → Business integrations. If IcloneU is missing from the list, the OAuth grant was revoked — reconnect via the Connect flow.
• Check for Meta-side enforcement. Meta restricts business messaging on Pages with policy violations or unresolved verification gaps. Check the Page's status in Business Suite; while restricted, no third-party app — including IcloneU — can receive its messages.
• Give it a few minutes. Meta occasionally has webhook delivery lag (minutes to hours). If nothing else surfaces a cause, wait 15 minutes and retest.

Worked through all of the above and a fresh test message from a non-admin profile still doesn't arrive? Escalate to support with the Page name and Page ID, the test profile that messaged, the timestamp of a message that didn't arrive, and screenshots of the Connections page, the Business Suite Inbox (showing it arrived at Meta), and the IcloneU Messages surface (showing the absence).

Disconnecting a Page

To remove a Facebook Connection, select its row on the Connections page and click Remove, then confirm. IcloneU removes the Page's webhook subscription, so new customer Messenger messages stop arriving in Messages and the attached Clone stops replying on that Page. The Clone itself, its Knowledge library, and any other Connections attached to it are unaffected. Your Page's own Messenger inbox at Meta is untouched — customers can still message the Page and Meta still delivers to the Page's inbox in Business Suite; the messages just don't reach IcloneU.

Removing the Connection in IcloneU does not revoke Meta's OAuth grant — it stays on file so a future Reconnect runs with fewer prompts. To revoke it explicitly (for a security disconnect), go to Facebook → Settings → Business integrations → find IcloneU → Remove. After an explicit revoke, the next Connect flow re-prompts for all permissions.

Frequently asked