Weird Tech: Facebook ban for British MP

The MP did have a suspiciously high number of friends...

A Liberal Democrat MP had his Facebook account suspended this week after the social networking website decided he "wasn't real". When Steve Webb tried to log on to the site on Monday he was informed that his account has been disabled following complaints that he didn't exist.

The news was particularly disturbing for Webb, Reuters reported, not because he has been a member of parliament for a decade - or because he has around 2,500 friends on Facebook - but because he is a keen promoter of online networking.
Loyal friends wasted no time in setting up a Facebook group called "Steve Webb is real!" which acquired over 200 members. After contacting a number of Facebook employees, he eventually received an apology and his profile was reinstated.

When Reuters asked if he might have been suspended because he had a suspiciously high number of friends, particularly for a member of parliament, he laughed. "The thought did cross my mind," he said.

Meanwhile, a helicopter carrying a Santa to a children's party on Tuesday was forced to return to base after drug traffickers in a Rio slum mistook it for a police helicopter and opened fire. Two bullet holes were found in its fuselage, but luckily no one was hurt in the assault, a police official told Reuters.
An irate shopper was tasered in front of a crowd of customers inside a busy shop in Florida this week, FTV.com reported.

The 35-year-old Yoga instructor allegedly became so upset after being confronted for using a "suspect" credit card (that was actually hers) that police were called in to subdue her. After being knocked to the floor, arrested and subsequently carted off to jail, the woman now faces charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Julia Sagar
Content director, special projects

Julia specialises in ecommerce at Future. For the last four years, she’s split her time between leading TechRadar’s crack team of deal editors - covering all the biggest sales of the year including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day - and helping the audiences of Future’s consumer tech and lifestyle brands (TechRadar, Tom's Guide, T3, Marie Claire, Woman & Home and more) find the best products and services for their needs and budget.


A former editor of global design website Creative Bloq, she has over 15 years’ experience in online and print journalism, and was part of the team that launched TechRadar way back in the day. When she isn't reviewing mattresses (she’s tested more than she cares to remember), or sharing tips on how to save money in the latest sales, she can usually be found writing about anything from green energy to graphic design.