March 03, 2011

BNP member's pro-Gaddafi Facebook group snares politicians

The Conservative housing minister Grant Schapps, and the shadow libraries minister Goloria de Piero, are both among the almost 700 members of the "Colonel Gaddafi Support Group".

Celebrities including John Cleese, Alan Titchmarsh and the Jewish comedian Sasha Baron Cohen are also falsely listed as backing the embattled Libyan dictator.

On learning he had been added to the group against his wishes, the broadcaster Andrew Neil, wrote on the wall: "How do I get out of this absurd group?

"Why is it possible you can be made a member without permission?"

The group was created by Claire Khaw, a BNP member and self-publicist who frequently aims to generate controversy online.

She yesterday rang BBC Radio 5's Victoria Derbyshire programme to tell the mother of a severely disabled six-year-old that she should have "rejected" her at birth to avoid burdening the taxpayer.

She was able to recruit Mr Neil and others to her pro-Gaddafi group because of a change to Facebook's groups system in October, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg said was "a fundamental shift" in the way people use the site. It now allows anyone on the site to add their "friends" to groups without their approval.

Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, an economics think tank, was surprised to find he was a member of the Colonel Gaddafi Support Group.

"Like many in public life I am quite generous about who I accept as a friend on Facebook," he said.

"I was astonished my name could be used in this way."

A spokeswoman for Facebook said there is no way for users to prevent themselves being added to groups by friends.

"We would always encourage people to only be friends with people you actually know," she said.

"When a friend adds you to a group, you'll get a notification right away and you can leave a group anytime."

In response to criticism from people she co-opted into her pro-Gaddafi group, Ms Khaw wrote: "I have just had enough with the IDIOTS here who can't even think themselves out of a ----ing paper bag.

"On the TOP RIGHT HAND corner of your screen is a button that you can click. It says LEAVE GROUP. Those who don't want to be here, click on that and ---- off."

There are long-established links between the Libyan regime and Britain's far-right. Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, then a member of the National Front, visited Tripoli in 1986 as a guest of Gaddafi to ask for funds.

Facebook said its groups policy is designed to be "similar to being involved in an email chain". In October, Michael Arrington, the founder of the technology blog Techcrunch, used the new system to sign up Mr Zuckerberg - who had accepted him as a friend - to a group promoting paedophilia.

Daily Telegraph


EDIT This is an interesting read about Claire on Ben Woodmans blog

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The group was created by Claire Khaw, a BNP member and self-publicist who frequently aims to generate controversy online.

Alternately, she could be described as another 'oddball' in the "Roberta Moore - Charlotte Lewis" mold.

She is also of Chinese heritage I beleive; The tiny number of BNP "ethnic" members tend to be even weirder than the White ones - which is saying something!

Anonymous said...

"I have just had enough with the IDIOTS here who can't even think themselves out of a fucking paper bag.On the TOP RIGHT HAND corner of your screen is a button that you can click. It says LEAVE GROUP. Those who don't want to be here, click on that and fuck off

What a charming, well spoken woman. Published in the Telegraph too!

The BNP must be so proud.

Anonymous said...

Interview with this strange person here:

http://alexlibertarian.blogspot.com/2010/12/claire-khaw-uncovered.html

There is a theory knocking around that "she" (or it) is a big 'situationist' hoax and may not exist as a real person at all!

John P said...

From that link,
Claire Khaw said...

There is a theoretical chance that I could become the 2012 BNP London mayoral candidate since I have accepted their invitation to apply for this.
18 February 2011 13:05

Anonymous said...

I heard Eddie Butler was knocking Claire Khaw off at one time!!!!

Anonymous said...

There is a theoretical chance that I could become the 2012 BNP London mayoral candidate since I have accepted their invitation to apply for this

We can only hope!

BTW she wants a referendum on the reintroduction of slavery....I'm not kidding!

Kev Scott loves The Jam said...

Spoof......maybe a nutzie... but most certainly a spoof........ ignore and move on!

Anonymous said...

http://benwoodhams.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/claire_khaw/

She has fruit and nut case written all over her. Ideal material for the BNP. At least they are consistent if nothing else!!

Anonymous said...

She is 'real'

Woman on the right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjot0Doz9XQ&feature=related

Utter looper!

Anonymous said...

Nick Griffin is speaking at a BNP meeting at The Globe, 7 Mysydd Road, Landore, Swansea on Saturday. Please phone the landlord to register a polite complaint on 01792 301 998.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Looking at it dispassionately, Clair Khaw has actually carried out a successful bit of trolling that snared a few high profile figures.

Journalists such as Andrew Neil, for whom an item of trivia could be the difference between his own "exclusive" or someone else's "exclusive", could be excused for the distasteful duty of keeping in touch with barmpots such as Khaw. Even so, it is still possible to set strict privacy settings for all friends, and even stricter ones for the assorted types of Facebook user who you wouldn't want to be seen with in public.

Andrew Neil's protestations are the online equivalent of shutting the stable door.

In fact, given that Facebook is a rich source of information for Redwatch, those of us with Facebook accounts ought to be checking our security settings from time to time - in the unlikely event we aren't already.

In particular watch out for the Facebook applications - these can get round all your security settings. Which perhaps explains why the BNP have their own facebook application.

And if any of your friends - or you personally - have 300+ friends - check the friends, particularly the groups they belong to. And if you are in the least bit suspicious of any of them - block them!

anarchist said...

I don't get it - is she trying to support Gaddafi, or trying to embarrass her 'friends' by implying they support Gaddafi?

Anonymous said...

I don't get it

She's an unstable attention seeker. She has no beliefs or politics.