Joseph Allan campaigned for a seat on Auckland Council, and has laid a complaint that specific social media accounts were used to attack him and other council candidates. Photo: Supplied / Auckland Council
A local election candidate has complained to Auckland Council about a rival competitor he claims created fake Facebook accounts to attack him and other candidates.
Recently re-elected four-term Manurewa Local Board member Joseph Allan said that for two and a half years, two accounts posted negative comments about his fellow candidates.
He said one candidate was accused of criminal activity.
More recently, Allan said his wife was mentioned by one of the accounts, which made him extremely concerned.
Auckland Council said they were investigating the matter.
Manurewa Local Board member Joseph Allan Photo: Supplied/ Vote Auckland
Allan also went to the police in August after a "ramp up" of "abusive" posts that month.
He wanted the person behind the accounts held accountable and felt a duty to speak up.
"This is beyond dirty politics. No one should have to have this, and that's why I've called it out.
"It's a tough environment for new politicians coming in. We need to put a stop to this so people aren't subjected to this sort of thing."
He said he was "100 percent sure" who was behind the accounts.
Allan said the posts were made by users "Dave Johanson" and "Dom Samson". When he investigated, he discovered both accounts were created by someone who joined Facebook on the exact same day in 2010, but the accounts were inactive until 2023.
Allan suspected both accounts were "additional profiles" of another account.
He said his rival candidate joined Facebook the same date as the accounts he believed were fake profiles.
"The content of the posts pointed me to only a few people who could have written this, who I named in my police report.
"We actually only discovered the dates the following day [after filing the police report].
"What are the odds the dates were a perfect match?"
He said the accounts also regularly promoted the rival candidate.
He said the accounts were deleted shortly after he filed a police report.
However, police said they would not be taking further action.
A police spokesperson told RNZ they investigated a report relating to misleading and threatening online behaviour linked to the local body elections.
"This was reported to have occurred between March 2023 and August 2025.
"At this stage, Police confirm the material supplied has been reviewed, and we found no indicators of criminal offending, and the case has been filed.
"However, if any evidence of criminal offending can be established Police will look into this."
Allan said he was considering all legal options.
The person accused has declined to comment.
Allan ran for a council seat this elections, but was unsuccessful.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
