UPDATE: Has the one party state crackdown begun already? Left wing NZ activist group removed from Facebook

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Well known left wing activist social media group, ‘John Key Has Left Down NZ’ has been shut down on Facebook.

At 11.40pm last night, Facebook, without any warning shut the group down siting a breach of terms of service as the reason. Seeing as  JKHLDNZ has tight moderation, what breach of terms of service are difficult to specify.  The group moderators complained to Facebook and haven’t heard anything back.

The group had over 16 000 members. A new page has been set up here. If any other progressive activist groups start  getting this kind of treatment on any other social media sites, please contact us at The Daily Blog.

Meanwhile Whaleoil’s Facebook page remains online.

 UPDATE: It appears National Party Billboard Makeovers has also been taken down.

 

73 COMMENTS

  1. Absolutely SHOCKING turn of events. Last night, at 11.40pm, the group was suddenly taken down by Facebook, with no warning, allegedly for “breach of terms of service”. The admin team of the group complained to FB, but have not heard back from them.

    As a member of the group admin team, I can state unreservedly that this was the most tightly-controlled and most strictly-moderated FB group in NZ, with strict group rules. ANYTHING that was even vaguely “objectionalable” was immediately deleted, and troublemakers were promptly banned from the group.

    Meanwhile Whaleoils’ hate site carries on…. as does his FB page, that promotes his hate site. Double standard???

    • I have been on John Keys page many, many times and have seen hate messages not taken down. Why is John Keys page still up? anyone know?

      • maybe if every time a hate full message is posted it needs to be reported.
        I can see the young blue shirts complain and complain and complain.
        this is not the first time that facebook has shown to have questionable community standards.

        Might it be time that the left start complaining every time they find something objectionable?

    • Peter, to me this indicates the ominous dark road NZ is taking. Particularly the fact Slater is still up and running, promoting his ugly, toxic site through social networks!

      Unfortunately I fear this situation will get worse, as non conformist Kiwis lose basic freedoms!

      Such a depressing week it’s been 🙁

      I’m no spring chicken, an old bird in fact, but I feel the time is getting closer for those of us on the left, to unite and become organized!

      • The sad thing is that the so called nonconformists who give a dam about their fellow citizens were the norm a decade ago.

  2. Thanks for posting this story Martyn. I was a part of that group, and it was very well moderated. Went to go on there this morning, and it was gone. Since found out it was shut down for reasons yet to be specified. I thought straight away that it was weird, and had to be because someone complained about it, maybe saying it was breaking rules of some sort (which is not true). This is part of the Right-wing move to shut the Left down, and I’ve heard rumours that Right-wing media are trying to have John Campbell either removed from his show or have another host join him that is more “Right leaning” to tone him down and make him more “Seven Sharp-ish” (and THAT would be a travesty for the Left in my opinion). Cheers Martyn.

  3. One can only suspect that it is a malicious take down. With a group membership of 16000 it is a significant number of people who oppose the John Key regime.
    As you say, Martyn, the group has tight moderation, but one can only think that someone has posted an incriminating comment, screenshot it, and reported it to Facebook.
    On the other had we may be part of the first stage of Big Brother censorship.

    • It’d take more than one complaint, Bob, but the right are well organised. We’ve seen from Dirty Politics that some of them have far more than one Facebook account.

  4. As an ex-admin I can attest to the fact that running that page was just about a fulltime job, which is why i was forced to stand aside from that. It was rigorously policed & a lot of behind-the-scenes work was done to keep it focused & clean.
    The fact that it was their for so long, with such a high membership, is testimony to those who put the effort into keeping it (kept it?) running.

  5. Come on, really. If you want Whaleoil’s FB page taken down, lodge a complaint to FB. If there is merit in it, FB will close it down. The NZ government doesn’t control FB, FB does – it is another of those ‘evil corporations’ and doesn’t care a fig for the politics of a, to them, insignificant island country adrift in the Pacific.

      • You know as well as I do that the Whaledump account was taken down for good reason as it was distributing hacked material.
        Specifically, Twitter Rules state:
        Private information: You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission.

        • @ Deejay

          How do you justify Cameron Slater’s venomous site then, where he has published details to cause harm to others, in one instance, a death threat?

          • Mary, I don’t justify Slater’s venomous site at all and nor is it my place to do so. However, to imply FB is in the thrall of the NZ government, or that the NZ government really has any interest in closing down a fringe group, is tinfoil hat stuff. As someone else here has said, there is an enormous amount of hateful stuff posted on John Key’s page which isn’t even removed by the page admins. Why? Because it isn’t of any consequence. No matter how self important the ‘JKhfNZ’ folk might think they are, it’s small patatas. Move on.

            • Here we go, tin foil hat accusations again. There doesn’t need to be a connection between FB and the government because they share the same values. Plus we know that this government is primarily focused on serving corporates so it is doubly so. People working in these places know what will upset their superiors and what won’t and act accordingly.

              But best just to move on and not think about it right?

    • DEEJAY

      Depends who reviews your complaint doesn’t it?
      Do you believe that right is always right, and anyone else is wrong like your leader key?

      We do not have your faith in your side at all.

      If true we wouldn’t have all this dirty politics still surrounding us like a cess pool dragging all down.

      Get real DEEJAY! WO should have been closed down ages ago as it is pure filth.

      We are nearing pre-war Germany here. word is suppression.

    • Sorry, but this makes little sense. I’ve seen racist, sexist, homophobic, hate speech, pro-violence groups remain on FB and Twitter. Where is the line drawn? I was in the group that’s been banned and there was NOTHING in there that could remotely fail any standards.

      If Facebook can leave up groups that actively advocate violence, racism, revenge against your significant other etc, why would JKHLDNZ be taken down? I’ve seen worse things posted on John Key and National’s page, the Herald, Stuff, TV1 and TV3 etc than I have in JKHLDNZ.

    • TDB could show who is voting for what, such as FB does with the comments.
      We would then see who the “CREEPS” are.

  6. Thank you Martyn for posting what appears to be yet more proof our freedoms are being eroded . This will sit very uncomfortably with Kiwi’s who actually take time to digest it . Many do not make the time , or cannot as they busy with life, keeping their heads above water , with the general cost of living these days . That people are angry, is without doubt – in my mind . Intelligent people are realizing the spin & sometimes blatant ” untruths ” being published in our MSM [ why don’t they say lies ? ] it’s very early for the government to be censoring movements and freedom of speech, but they have an addenda with a time limit — it would seem — and I think the organisation of a protest march AGAINST THE TPPA / meeting in Aotea square is something they do not want but something that could be a game changer if enough concerned people turn up —- and they know it . NOVEMBER 8th be there to show your concern for our country , freedoms and rights — because if we don’t make this big , the deaf & blind may not hear nor see .

    • Who is organising the anti TPPA march. I would like to contact them to get a copy of the text of the TPPA. To date I have not found anyone who actually has a copy of the text of the TPPA. I guess the organisers of a March against it must have a copy.

      • As far as I know, the content of the TPPA is top secret and nobody has a copy. Which on its own, is bad enough.

      • Ask Tim Groser if he’ll give you a copy.

        If you read anything at all you should know that the secretive aspect is what is concerning people.

        If you are not trying to discredit the anti TPPA march perhaps you could search for details of organizers. I have heard that search engines are quite useful.

        • I think I made that clear in my post sweetie: that the secrecy alone is bad, let alone the content. Perhaps I write too succinctly and you read too fast. And we do not know what is in it – we only have crumbs, which no doubt are only a small part of the content. I belong to various anti TPPA marches and have been to many of the protests, so go and be grouchy and sarcastic elsewhere. I am far too old for this kind of shit Groucho.

  7. Facebook, your clients are the end user not the corporation advertisers. You are acting against people’s moral rights, right to privacy, respect and honesty. Profit has corrupted you completely, shame on you. You will not reach your full potential as long as you perpetuate this negative energy! Free yourselves, free us all.

    • You clearly have no idea how Facebook’s business model works. Anyone on FB is not a customer (you don’t pay, remember) but the product. The advertisers are FB’s customers. When you sign up to FB, you sign away your privacy to Facebook. Look into it.

    • If by ‘they’ you mean Facebook, they have no obligation, moral or commercial, to explain anything, so I suspect your wait will be in vain.

  8. This Daily Blog may be next Martyn. Hope you’ve backed up and ready to relocate to a Scandinavian server!!

    No, really. I mean it. Back up. And be ready to relocate. The FB event was a precursor.

    • The Daily Blog is a legend in its own mind. Do you seriously think that the Government gives a shit about it or the Standard.

      Maybe if you got some good leaks you might be in trouble, but the politicians on the left are too busy infighting to even leak anything worthwhile.

  9. Lets be honest, the rallying points of resistance to XKeyScore’s administration is now led online by writers on The Daily Blog, sometimes The Standard, various marxists and a loose network of other blogs.

    Hundreds of individuals including prof J.Kelsey to Nicky Hagar perform with honour along with those of us known only to our friends and colleagues!

    Mana Movement and it’s socialist components are one of the other places where some decent leadership comes from. AAAP and Green activists too.
    When the alienated and the flat screen zombies appear to be making the running what we do can only be termed the RESISTANCE. It is not a shooting war (except WINZ offices) but it is certainly a class war.

    • great article…agreed!

      …I have to say that John Campbell, Phil Wallington , Wallace Chapman , Media Watch and Wayne Brittenden are refreshing counter trends in unprofessional right wing journalism and PR spin

      …can’t think of any more just off hand…but I like Kathryn Ryan and Simon Mercep and Mary Wilson because they try and keep a balance…also Kim Hill of course!

    • Graham Richardson was a senior ALP figure for years, before becoming a media commentator. You don’t have to agree with him, but he’s definitely a political expert – especially in Labor Party politics (albeit a different Labor Party, but one with many similarities).

  10. Seems like he would be a good mate of the former Jesuit Priest Tony Abbott!

    I think Guy Espiner and Suzie Ferguson had him on radionz ‘Morning Report’ this morning….certainly had an Australian on bad mouthing David Cunliffe’s chances, which I thought was a bit off ( but I didnt listen closely because this programme is no longer professional, objective and unbiased….It is a mouthpiece of the right wing and biased towards John Key’s Nactional)

    …Shame on Radio New Zealand!…Time for a new Dotcom radio station

  11. Another group calling themselves John Key Has Let Down NZ has just posted this. They are trying to discredit the original group of 16000 members.

    “The other JKHLDNZ group was closed down by Facebook because there were threats of violence on the page. Facebook will only close down a group if there are multiple complaints about the content.
    Despite what the admins of that group and others are saying, they were not closed down for being a political group against the government and it’s not a sign of creeping fascism.
    The group was obviously infiltrated and set up with the purpose of closing it.
    1 hr · ”
    Another group calling themselves John Key Has Let Down NZ has just posted this. They are trying to discredit the original group of 16000 members.
    “The other JKHLDNZ group was closed down by Facebook because there were threats of violence on the page. Facebook will only close down a group if there are multiple complaints about the content.
    Despite what the admins of that group and others are saying, they were not closed down for being a political group against the government and it’s not a sign of creeping fascism.
    The group was obviously infiltrated and set up with the purpose of closing it.
    1 hr · “

      • That ‘other’ group was set up by a former admin person from the original JKHLDNZ group, after an acrimonious split. I think her intentions are good, if a little misguided, and the more people there are acting as focus points for the battle against the regime, the better.

      • You are talking absolute bollocks. I had respect for your fb page until this moment. The other group was set up by an original member of the first who got somewhat disenchanted. It is an open group, with no agenda against the first. Stop making conspiraciesw where there are none.

  12. You didn’t print my comment on Wake up Kiwi ,maybe its not allowed to recommend other sites . im new to this site so don’t know the rules. There are brilliant brilliant articles stating New Zealand is a company registered on the stock exchange, it gives views in law that might help us get back our soverienty ,I never knew we are being fooled because we don’t know the law , if you can please view it yourself ,or allow others to know about it I was gobsmacked at the illegal ways we are being treated by this government and the British Crown thanks.

  13. Tight moderation? You must be joking! I tried to correct some misconceptions about animal testing and the moderators allowed me to be flamed to hell and back and then banned me for not opposing animal testing. To avoid being banned you have to buy into a package deal that includes opposing a lot of scientific fact such as that animal testing is still required in toxicology, and that GMOs have been extensively tested and are safe.

    • Animal testing and GMOs are off topic for this present discussion, as they also are for that group. If you were banned from there, it would have been for a good reason, and the fact that you WERE banned only demonstrates that it was indeed a “tightly moderated” group, which kinda destroys your whole argument.

  14. Roast Busters was good enough to stay up on facebook for how long?.

    A year or so wasn’t it ?.

    Anyway the Dompost and Herald are in on the dirty politics game so never support or buy them. They are part of the national party marketing machine …..

    If facebook goes the same way ditch it …….

  15. […] was the most tightly-controlled and most strictly-moderated FB group in NZ, with strict group rules. ANYTHING that was even vaguely “objectionalable” was immediately deleted, and troublemakers were promptly banned from the group. (from Peter Archer, ex admin, quoted from comments on The Daily Blog). […]

  16. I was a member of that group as well, and was quite shocked to discover it had been taken down – although I see it’s back up and running again now Peter Archer?

    I think the admins did a tremendous job of trying to moderate the comments, but given how incredibly busy and active the group was, that would have been a Herculean task.

    I got trolled once or twice myself, notified the admins about it when I thought the insults crossed the line from rude to fucking rude to slightly stalkerish and obsessive, and they acted very promptly by blocking that individual after reading the posts.

    The admins tried very hard to uphold the rules that you shouldn’t be racist, sexist, say something against someone’s religion, or threaten physical violence against anyone. Yes, some offensive and immature comments slipped through the net, as is bound to happen. When certain threads started that I strongly disagreed with for a period of time, I just ignored them and moved right on to another thread, or stayed off the page for a few days until the topic had changed.

    Overall, the page is fantastic and provided a wonderful haven for me to vent my anger and sadness with like-minded lefties.

    Thank you to all the admins, you know who you are 🙂

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