On Sunday, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s X (formerly Twitter) account (@ausconservation) was suspended, with no warning or reason.
This was the second such suspension in the last few weeks.
ACF has not posted any content that could be considered in breach of X’s rules.
Like any major not-for-profit organisation, we use our X account for advocacy, to share news, views and factual content.
ACF has more than 344,000 followers on X and we have, until recent times, enjoyed mostly positive and productive engagement via this platform.
In recent months, following the release of the Coalition’s nuclear policy, ACF has been posting more factual information about nuclear power related to the time, cost, delay and its unsuitability for Australia.
We believe the unfair suspension of our account was directly connected to this content.
Overnight, X’s Support Team contacted ACF with apology and a brief explanation for the suspension, citing that we were mistakenly flagged by their automated system as a spam account.
This confirms our suspicions that we have been the target of a critical mass of false reports. Such tactics are a concerning development in the Australian social media landscape.
In recent weeks the removal of evidence-based information on renewables, nuclear power and electric vehicles has been reported across X, Facebook and TikTok.
We are pleased that our X account is now back up and running. While those who tried to shut us down were temporarily successful, this has ultimately backfired and has resulted in ACF gaining more than 3000 new followers.
We appreciate the apology and swift reinstatement of our account by X and look forward to our ongoing engagement on the platform.
It is clear that we are facing ongoing attempts to silence us. And we anticipate this will happen again.
Please donate now to help ensure our voice is heard where it’s needed.
