A Norfolk MP has denied buying “likes” on social media after hundreds of people from around the world started appearing on his account.
Brandon Lewis, the MP for Great Yarmouth, has dismissed accusations that he has purchased reactions on Facebook.
Sir Brandon was forced to deny the allegations after an account on X – formerly Twitter – called Politics UK, made the suggestion.
It said: “Tory MP Brandon Lewis appears to be buying likes on his Facebook posts.
“Most of the likes are from people from different countries - not his constituents of Great Yarmouth.”
Several of Sir Brandon’s videos have received an uncommon number of likes recently.
While an average post may get between 10 and 20 reactions, some of his recent videos have received upwards of 140 by people from as far away as Liberia and South Africa.
Sir Brandon has said Politics UK’s allegations were “categorically untrue”.
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In a response, he said: “While at times - like a lot of other MPs - certain elements of my content is supported by legitimate paid advertising in Great Yarmouth (paid for using private funds), paying for fake Facebook followers is not something I do or have considered doing.
“These fake names shown may be an unfortunate by-product of Meta’s often complicated distribution system and have no connection to anything me or my office have done.
“We will however take immediate steps to attempt to remove these fake profiles to avoid any confusion.”
He later clarified with this paper that he has also not paid for likes, and nor has anyone who works for him.
Sir Brandon has previously faced criticism for spending almost £10,000 of taxpayer cash on marketing agencies to help improve his image.
He has hired two London marketing firms, with one receiving almost £7,000 in the last year.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing, but Labour opponents have questioned whether the spending was an appropriate use of public money.
Mr Lewis, however, has defended the payments saying they were entirely within the guidelines.
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