Northern Ireland

32 County Sovereignty Movement banned from Facebook

Facebook has banned the 32CSM from its platform
Facebook has banned the 32CSM from its platform Facebook has banned the 32CSM from its platform

An anti-agreement republican group has been banned from Facebook.

On Monday a number of pages linked to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (CSM) were deleted, prompting the organisation to blame British intelligence.

Last night a spokeswoman for the Facebook confirmed that the 32 CSM has been banned from the platform.

"We reviewed this organisation and determined it violated our Dangerous Organisations policy," she said.

"Groups that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence have no place on Facebook.

"As a result, this organisation has been banned from our platforms and we will remove any praise, support or representation of the group and its activities."

Initially known as the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, the group was formed in 1997 by members of Sinn Féin opposed to the political direction adopted by the party as the peace process developed.

In the past it was linked to the Real IRA, which later merged with others to form the New IRA in 2012.

In a statement the 32 CSM said it believes the decision to close down the pages was a "coordinated attack and cannot be disguised as anything else".

"For Facebook to send emails to a number of our members claiming their accounts may have been accessed, conincidentally at the same time, and denies the involvement of other agencies, then it calls in to question the integrity of Facebook's security when handling our personal details," it said.

The group believes British intelligence is behind the move to ban them.

"This political censorship is being directed in our view by British intelligence who are attempting to stifle our message," it claimed.