Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis forced to deny he's been paying for Facebook 'likes'

A Conservative MP has been forced to deny that he has been paying for "likes" on his Facebook page after he started receiving reactions from people around the world.

The accusation was made by the Politics UK account on X, formerly known as Twitter, who claimed that Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis had suddenly started receiving an unusual number of likes on his recent videos.

“Tory MP Brandon Lewis appears to be buying likes on his Facebook posts," the post read.

“Most of the likes are from people from different countries – not his constituents of Great Yarmouth.”

Some of Mr Lewis' recent videos posted on Facebook have been getting reactions from people in several African countries, including Liberia and South Africa.

In response to the allegations, Mr Lewis said on X that the claims were "categorically untrue."

"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," he wrote.

"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."

Mr Lewis recently came under fire from some of his constituents after it emerged he had taken on a seventh job advising a company partly owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

He has been the MP for Great Yarmouth since 2010 and has also held a variety of high-profile cabinet positions, including Justice Secretary.

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