Union official allegedly set up fake ‘Black Lives Matter’ Facebook page

A union official suspended amid claims he’s behind a fake ‘Black Lives Matter’ page that has drawn $100k in donations.

The Facebook page that has come under a cloud.

An Australian National Union of Workers employee is allegedly behind a scam ‘Black Lives Matter’ Facebook page, which has pulled in over $100,000 from online fundraisers meant for Black Lives Matter Causes in the US.

The Facebook page, which has almost 700,000 followers - more than double the official Black Lives Matter page - is run not by a black American but a middle-aged Australian and National Workers Union official, according to a report by CNN.

The page has run fundraising campaigns earning more than $100,000, which have each now been suspended by the platforms PayPal, Patreon, Donorbox and Classy.

The NUW today said it had suspended the official and launched an investigation into the matter.

It said the union had no involvement in the Facebook page and had not authorised any activities with reference to claims made in CNN’s story.

A facebook spoeksman said: “We investigated this situation as soon as it was brought to our attention, and disabled the Page admin for maintaining multiple profiles on the platform.

“We continue to look into the situation and will take the necessary action in line with our policies. “

According to reports, the union official has dozens of websites related to black rights registered under his name, including blackpowerfist.com. He did not respond to questions from CNN for comment but said, “My domain name buying and selling is a personal hobby.”

The fake ‘Black Lives Matter’ group’s Donorbox page said the group’s mission is to “raise awareness about racism, bigotry, police brutality and hate crimes by exposing through social media locally and internationally stories that mainstream media don’t.”

“We have built a following through hard work, dedication and the generosity of supporters like you that pitch in a what they can to help us promote or share our page and also pay to boost the stories the mainstream media try to suppress through paid ads,” the group said.

According to CNN a source familiar with the payments processed as a result of the fundraising said at least one of the accounts was tied to an Australian bank account, and was tied to the union official by name.

His LinkedIn page has now been removed.

The discoveries come as Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is this week grilled by US congress for his company’s role in ‘fake news’ and election interference.

Mr Zuckerberg will tell politicians this week that his company “didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility” and will lay out steps to make it right, after revelations about the abuse of users’ personal information .

“As Facebook has grown, people everywhere have gotten a powerful new tool to stay connected to the people they love, make their voices heard, and build communities and businesses,” Mr Zuckerberg will say, according to prepared testimony released by a House committee on Monday.

“But it’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well.”