A controversial social network site which was set up to combat alleged bullying at a north-east secondary school was dramatically shut down by Facebook bosses last night, just hours after it was exposed by the Press and Journal.
The page, which aimed to stop troublemakers at Mintlaw Academy by threatening to post allegations about them and their families, is at the centre of a police investigation.
Officers received complaints that the so-called Poma Page, People of Mintlaw Academy, had posted offensive, false claims about a local family.
The family told the P&J yesterday that they had on several occasions asked Facebook, which hosts the page, to get it removed.
“We had been told Poma hadn’t done anything wrong and refused to shut it down,” the mother of one pupil who was named on the site said. “There were posts making us out to be perverts. It was disgusting.”
Last night, the site was closed by Facebook moderators. A spokeswoman for the social networking giant said she was unable to comment on specific cases, but it is understood the page was deemed “fake”, a violation of the site’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.
Just minutes before the page was taken down, Poma’s creator contacted the P&J about yesterday’s article.
The mystery user wrote: “I wouldn’t call myself a vigilante. I also don’t believe I have carried out a lot (if any) illegal activity.”
He or she added that they could provide the paper with “proof that I am much more innocent than the people I have ‘targeted’.”
Last night, a relative of a girl bullied at the school said her life had been made a misery by classmates.
She said the Poma Page had highlighted a serious problem at the academy.
Police, who visited the school and discussed the matter with staff, said their inquiries into the webpage were continuing.
Aberdeenshire Council said it was assisting police with their inquiries.