Unearthed From Greenpeace Exposes Tory Dirty Tricks Using Multiple Facebook Groups

29th April 2024

Hi folks, Crispin here, one of the editors at Unearthed.

I'm writing to let you know about an investigation we've just published. It digs into a network of Facebook groups presented as grassroots campaigns against London's clean air policies, but which are in reality run by Conservative Party operatives.

Conservative-run anti-Ulez Facebook groups hosted racist and Islamophobic posts.

These groups - set up to oppose an extension of the capital's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) - have become a platform for widespread racism and Islamophobia, as well as conspiracy theories and celebrations of criminal damage.

Reporters who joined some of these private groups found dozens of Islamophobic and racist posts and comments, with members describing the capital's Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, as a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ and a ‘Khaki Punt’, and claiming that "lying is a way of life" for people of Pakistani heritage.

In at least two of the groups members shared images displaying the notorious white supremacist slogan "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Others shared antisemitic videos and images falsely alleging conspiracies by Jewish people to attain world domination.

Reporters also found widespread posts documenting and celebrating criminal vandalism by self-described ‘bladerunners’ - people who intentionally destroy Ulez enforcement cameras.

Members of groups analysed by Unearthed included prominent Conservative politicians such as Susan Hall, the party’s candidate for London mayor, justice select committee chair Sir Bob Neill, and Steve Tuckwell, the MP who took over Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency in last summer’s by-election, as well as numerous other local Tory MPs and councillors.

In response to our investigation, the Conservative party has said it is reviewing its policies on Facebook groups, and some senior Tories have promised to leave the groups.

Read the full story at UNEARTHED