A Facebook page urging the US financial backers of the Hobbit movies to keep the filming in New Zealand has been partially restored, but the organiser is still fuming that supporters could still be lost.
Auckland actor Mark Harrison who organised a nationwide series of support rallies on Monday said the Facebook page was removed on Sunday for violating Facebook's terms and conditions.
This morning the page was restored, but Facebook's move could cost the campaign yet more supporters, as the web page address link, facebook.com/hobbitnz, which was included in $35,000 worth of full-and half-page newspaper advertisements running in the Dominion Post and New Zealand Herald today, did not work.
The adverts were paid for by about 1500 film technicians and businesses.
Mr Harrison said if people could not find the page, there would be fewer supporters.
However, using a general search the page is still easy to find and the number of supporters had risen to more than 13,000 this morning.
Mr Harrison said he received an "incredibly vague" email from Facebook at 3am today questioning whether the page was a business or a blog.
It was neither and calls to Facebook had gone unanswered, he said.
The timing could not have been worse as efforts were ramping up to keep the movies here, Mr Harrison said.
"I am not a happy man when it comes to Facebook."
