Reform UK Burnley Page Removed By Facebook

What Is Happening?

On Monday 14th April, less than 3 weeks before the elections on 1st May, Facebook interfered in Burnley and Padiham politics, by suspending the ‘Reform UK – Burnley’ Facebook page.

Following an appeal, the page was then swiftly completely removed by Facebook, on the same day.

This was not for anything the page posted. The reason given by Facebook for the suspension was for ‘impersonation’, citing examples of their policy being ‘creating a page that looks like it belongs to a brand or business’, despite it being the official Burnley branch page and never having been asked for authentication of this by Facebook.

The other parties haven’t had their local pages suspended and removed during the campaign for this reason. Based on the content of the page, no unbiased observer would logically conclude that the Reform UK – Burnley page isn’t what it purports to be.

I have therefore reported both the Burnley Labour and Burnley Conservatives pages under the same Facebook rule, to see if they apply their rules equally. As of time of writing, their pages are still visible and the reports haven’t been replied to. I don’t believe in their pages being removed, I’m merely seeing if the rules are equally applied.

Given the short space of time between now and the local elections, it seems to be yet another case of potential election subversion by a social media company.

Commentary

Under Tory and Labour leadership, the UK has seen a culture develop of political censorship, people being dragged through the courts and even locked up for what they post online.

This development, during an election campaign, is highly concerning. No political party should be subject to this, it gives others an unfair advantage. Reform UK are the UK’s leading political party according to many polls, including Burnley, so it is undoubtably in the public interest for our voice to be heard.