ALBA have had a political advertisement banned from social media – just months after it was banned from running an attack on the Tories by one of the UK’s biggest billboard firms.
The party said it was blocked from running an advert mocking Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar on Facebook.
In it, the party compared Starmer with the ventriloquist Keith Harris, with the Scottish Labour leader standing in for the dummy Orville.
Starmer is quoted in the advert as saying: “Whatever I say will be what Anas says.”
The comment came during a grilling from journalists late last month, during which The National challenged Sarwar for replying to a question directed at the UK leader.
In feedback given to the party, the company rejected the ad on the grounds it did not “comply with our policy on ads about social issues, elections or politics”.
The party say no further reason has been given.
READ MORE: Alba advert attacking 'vampire' Rishi Sunak rejected by media giant
The advert has been allowed to run on Twitter/X as an ordinary post.
💬 @ChrisMcEleny: "We have known for a long time in Scotland that the Scottish Labour Party are just a branch office... Anas Sarwar is viewed by Keir Starmer as a Labour puppet and London’s Voice in Scotland."
— ALBA Party (@AlbaParty) October 3, 2023
Read More ➡️https://t.co/j5m7HWtaYU#ALBAforIndependence pic.twitter.com/29Tu1q7AK8
Alba's general secretary Chris McEleny said: "First it was an Alba Party advert highlighting Scotland’s oil being seized by Westminster that was banned.
"Now it’s an ad that highlights that a vote for Labour is a vote to have a puppet branch office as London’s voice in Scotland.
READ MORE: 'Whatever I say will be what Anas Sarwar says', Keir Starmer tells Scottish media
"It seems that big media companies are riding two horses in the runup to the next General Election.
"Social media would be better putting their time and resources towards stopping the shocking amount of online abuse that goes unchecked on their platforms than stopping important messages getting to people in Scotland.”
It comes after media giant Global prevented the company from running an advert depicting Rishi Sunak as a vampire from their billboards, claiming it was slanderous against the PM.
The advert was an homage to the SNP’s famous adverts in the 1980s depicting Margaret Thatcher as an oil-thirsty vampire.
In the reworked version, the caption read: “No wonder he’s laughing. He’s got Scotland’s oil.”
A spokesperson for Meta said: "We’ve now restored the ad as this was initially removed as a false positive."
It is understood the party must resubmit the post for it to be "boosted" as an advertisement.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel