Facebook dumped over BNP links

Vodafone and First Direct have pulled advertising from Facebook to stop their brands appearing near British National Party details. Their adverts were among several which flashed up on a rotating basis on the same page as the right-wing group. Advertisers cannot control where on Facebook their brands appear.

Vodafone wants to carry on working with the social networking site while "staying true" to its policies, a spokeswoman said. The two advertisers were alerted to their brands' proximity to BNP information on Facebook by New Media Age magazine. A Vodafone spokeswoman said the mobile phone firm bought bundles of advertising space across a number of websites.

"As a result we were not aware that a Vodafone advertisement would appear next to a British National Party group on Facebook," she said "Our public policy principles state that we do not make political donations or support particular party political interests and therefore to avoid misunderstandings we immediately withdrew our advertising as soon as this was brought to our attention."

Vodafone is working with its media buyer to ensure more "robust controls" are in place before it re-invests, she added. First Direct spokesman Rob Skinner said: "We are obviously concerned about where our advertising appears. We have got to make sure that the places we advertise are consistent with our own values and identity."

The BNP has its own page in Facebook's political organisations section.

New Media Age editor Justin Pearse said: "On the internet you often have little control of where your ads are shown, something that's been highlighted by the unwitting association of some of the UK's favourite brands with a highly controversial political cause."

The BNP's Facebook page contains a link to its own website and an introductory paragraph which says the group exists: ".. to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia."

BNP spokesman Phill Edwards said: "There is no reason at all why anyone should avoid the BNP. There's nothing wrong with the BNP. Unfortunately the media have created a bogeyman and really the fault lies with the media, who for some reason have vilified the BNP, and it has scared these people off."

Metro