Facebook donation blow for animal charity over alcohol
- Published
Hope Rescue says the loss of donations is devastating
A dog rescue charity complains it has lost about £15,000 in donations after Facebook put restrictions on its account.
Hope Rescue, based in Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said the restraint was imposed by the social media giant because it promoted alcohol as a raffle prize.
Politicians have called for Facebook to reverse the decision.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, said it was investigating.
Hope Rescue founder Vanessa Waddon told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that the charity had always included alcohol in its fundraising.
She said last month "out of the blue" the charity got a violation notice saying it had breached Facebook's community guidelines.
"Our appeal didn't work so we took down all the posts as requested," Ms Waddon said. "Then suddenly they took away our donation button and started restricting how many people could see our posts."
Ms Waddon said it has been "devastating to suddenly lose that", estimating the charity brings in an average of £15,000 per month in donations.
She said under the rules charities with a "bricks and mortar property," like the Hope Rescue shop in Pontyclun are allowed to use alcohol in their fundraisers.
But she said emails and phone messages to Meta have gone "unanswered."
"We've literally done everything," she said. "We even had somebody in California go to the office for us but we just keep getting automated messages."
A spokesperson for Meta said: "I can confirm we are investigating this."
The Member of the Senedd (MS) Ogmore, Huw Irranca-Davies, called on the company to resolve the problem in a tweet.
Ogmore MS Huw Irranca-Davies is calling on Meta to help
Ogmore MP Chris Elmore also called on Meta to lift the restriction, saying "this really isn't acceptable. Hoping Meta can reach out to help such a great charity doing crucial work protecting animals."
Hope Rescue takes stray dogs from six local authorities in south Wales - Merthyr Tydfil, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend and the western half of the Vale of Glamorgan.
It also helps owners in crisis who need to surrender their dogs, giving them peace of mind that they will be rehomed responsibly.
Ms Waddon said without the ability to raise money on Facebook the charity would struggle to pay its veterinarian bills of about £20,000 a month.
"It's having a huge impact," she said. "It's also restricting how many people we can reach to put up a dog for adoption in the last two weeks."