A Bury councillor has accused administrators of a large local Facebook group of removing posts about a by election candidate while allowing other political content to remain.
Councillor Jack Rydeheard says posts he shared about Reform UK’s Tottington candidate George Martin were removed twice from the Facebook group What’s On In Tottington Greenmount and Walshaw.
The group has more than 38,000 members and is widely used by residents to share community news and discussion.
Councillor Rydeheard said the posts quoted information from an article published by the Bury Times and were intended to inform residents about the candidate standing in the Tottington by election next month.
He claims the posts were removed by group administrators despite other political posts remaining visible within the group.
According to Councillor Rydeheard, at least nine posts relating to local politics remain available in the group. These include posts from Conservative councillor Iain Gartside, Tottington by election Conservative candidate Emma Lee and Andrew Luxton, who has previously stood for election in Elton ward and is the Conservative candidate for Tottington in the May 2026 local elections.
Councillor Rydeheard alleges that three of the four administrator accounts for the Facebook group are linked to figures aligned with the Bury Conservative Party. He believes the removals amount to politically motivated moderation during the election period.
He said:
“This says everything about certain figures within the Conservative Party in Bury. The Conservative Party aligned admins in this group are engaging in wilful censorship of an electoral candidate, with posts being removed in a manner which would make Chinese Communist Party officials proud.”
“The Conservatives clearly do not think they can win a fair fight in Tottington so they have resorted to trying to pretend George does not exist which certainly will not work. I have full faith in Tottington’s electorate to see past this deception.”
Councillor Rydeheard has called on Andrew Luxton to respond publicly and confirm whether the group will apply the same moderation standards to all political candidates during the campaign.
He said he would like Mr Luxton to commit to a clear and consistent standard for political posts in the group and to explain how that standard will be applied.
The Facebook group’s published rules state that posts should avoid politics, but also say that healthy debate is welcome.
Bury Conservatives have declined to comment.
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