Facebook shuts down Kiwi party’s page
Facebook shuts down the page of conspiracy-embracing political party Advance New Zealand just two days out from an election.
Facebook shut down the page of conspiracy-embracing political party Advance New Zealand on Thursday just two days out from an election, accusing it of spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
“We don’t allow anyone to share misinformation on our platforms about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm,” said a representative for the social media giant.
The action prompted party co-leader Billy Te Kahika, who has amassed a huge following using the online platform, to accuse Facebook of meddling in Saturday’s poll.
“Facebook have now officially interfered with the New Zealand 2020 elections,” Mr Te Kahika claimed in a live video posted to his personal Facebook page shortly after the takedown. “They did it in the middle of a broadcast and it’s unbelievable, guys. This is amazing … they’ve actually carried through with the threat.”
Facebook said it would enforce its policies on coronavirus misinformation “regardless of anyone’s political position or party affiliation”. “We removed Advance New Zealand/New Zealand Public Party’s Facebook Page for repeated violations” of misinformation policies, it said.
Mr Te Kahika, a former blues musician, is standing for parliament after his social media posts claiming COVID-19 is fake and part of a conspiracy to enslave people became wildly popular in New Zealand.
Between late June and early October, the Advance NZ Facebook page generated more than 5.3 million views, according to data from social media tracker CrowdTangle.
Advance NZ’s page views exceed the 2.8 million for New Zealand’s main opposition National Party and 5.2 million for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party over the same period. Advance NZ’s Facebook posts have also generated far more activity than those of the two mainstream parties. Advance NZ’s posts have been shared 148,000 times, compared with fewer than 110,000 combined for the mainstream parties, according to CrowdTangle.
Two of his party’s most popular claims have been debunked: that the government was authorising the military to enter homes and planning forced vaccinations. The latter claim was made in a campaign video that selectively edited statements from MPs, resulting in parliament’s privileges committee condemning “blatant doctoring” of footage and demanding it be taken down.
On Thursday, New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority ordered the party to withdraw flyers making similar claims.
Mr Te Kahika accused Ms Ardern, who is expected to win Saturday’s election due largely to her government’s success containing coronavirus, of being behind Facebook’s decision to remove the page. “This is not North Korea, this is not China, but the way this government’s behaving you’d think it is,” he said.
Mr Te Kahika’s supporters expressed outrage online. “They did this to Trump, you’re both a threat to the establishment,” commented one.
AFP
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