Updates to this story
In the wake of the first ever broadcast election debates featuring the big 3 of British politics on telly, Facebook has been behaving very strangely, censoring a number of pro Labour and LibDem groups and pages.
A Labour campaigner tells us that two of the prevalent pages that have been censored are 'Labour Win' and 'Were[sic] backing Brown'. A petition has been started for Facebook to reinstate the Labour Win page. On it, the groups founder claims that Facebook removed the profile because it was "fake".
The strange thing is, there are unofficial groups and pages all over Facebook, and not just in the UK. Why would Facebook be actively removing campaigning sites unless it has a vested interest in the Conservative party? Digging out well hidden T&C's seems a strange thing to do without reason.
Especially when you consider that Facebook very recently became self-appointed paragon of the general election online, actively encouraging all of its UK users to register to vote. Why, if it is so keen to get the country out of the apathy slump, would it be trying to stifle genuine, informed political debate?
We have tried to contact Facebook but as of yet have had no reply.
A source who has closely been following the issue told TechEye: "They've been up to dirty tricks since the begiining of the year when it was clear social media was getting the message across. Initially posts would disappear for no reason, but as they've gone on as if it's been about trying to minimise the cross fertilisation.
"For instance if I write 'Happy Birthday' on your wall both our names show up in the live "See More" feed. But if I were to write on the 'Labour Win' page, or another such group, the recipient is blank. This is a development in recent months because one anti-Cameron group had over 150,000 members and therefore had wide reach, and they were simply scared.
"Now that group fails to appear on any search, and even though I'm a member of the group it does not appear in my list of groups.! Prior to this in February, Facebook started blocking tinylinks to newspaper articles critical of the Tories on the grounds they had been reported as being offensive! All of these actions are attempts to restrict the easy flow of information about Tory policies."
Facebook requires all personal profiles to use their real name. It requires all non-personal causes to use a group or fan page.
LabourWIN used a pseudonym on a personal page.
It was reported to Facebook, probably by Tory Facebook users, as it was a prolific profile.
It won't be reinstated as it broke Facebook's T&Cs from day 1 by not using a real name.
It's not a case of political interference.
LabourWIN merely broke the rules and was reported / deleted. The admin of the campaign has had this explained to him and understands this, but has yet to change the name of the group to reflect the facts.
Clearly Facebook are up to dirty tricks - the profile has been in existence for 6 months and was drawing 100+ new supporters per day as we head towards the election.
Facebook appear to have their own page "Democracy UK on Facebook".
"Are they having a laff"?
The LabourWIN page must be reinstated immediately, or Facebook will lose both credibility and members.
It was fair enough that the profile went but where was the reason for removing the group?
To be honest this is being a little pathetic over this.
If they remove one political party group they should remove them all.
They should not be a biased website considering that they are supporting the election as a whole. Not certain partys.
I think that fb should allow LabourWIN back online - or let its creator change it to a 'group' or fanpage.
Stop being political.
Why are you hiding your Political Allegences, we have stated ours on your pages.
Will you please assured all members of Facebook that you are not selling our information to other groups.
Facebook need reinstate the LabourWIN profile or suffer the consequences.
Harsh ... but true! :)
I have forwarded this article and the petition to all my Facebook contacts as well as posting the link on my own Twitter page!
We as a on-line community need to make everyone and anybody aware that this sort of behaviour will not be stood for...
Based on the approach taken there are 100's of breachs of the face book rules around profile name which go unchecked.
There are a number which have been reported for the same compalint so we can measure if this really is a personal action or they are operating to proceedure.
Up until this point no one worried which political organisations did what!!
People who believe they know what's best for other people should be never allowed anywhere without a leash on.
Reinstate the LabourWin page or face the lashback. You are NOT untouchable.
Still no action from Facebook on Labour WIN page that was disabled ... filibustering through to the election as a delaying tactic?
Labour WIN group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=194345977015
Adam Browne of Labour WIN . Recovering the 5000 lost friends and supporters here. Join up : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000593212551&ref=profile
well i posted the link into my status update and wrote 'let's all go'. two hours later, not only had the group disappeared, but they actually had erased my own status update - not only the link, but my own writing, which was completely non-offensive. i've been thinking about quitting facebook for a long time; there's no democratic element in it, it's a simple tool to grab people's information and networks, and it gives nothing back. no autonomy, no freedom of speech, no means of organisation for the politically minded.
FB took over from myspace - now it's time someone else took over from these idiots.
they are too stupid to relaise that a site thrives when it acts as a vehicle, not the driver of content. an unbiased space
plus they watch your every move for ad data
they are looking more and more sus all the time.