Facebook ban makes British MP doubt his existence

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - A British member of parliament had his Facebook account suspended this week after the popular social networking site decided he wasn't real.

Steve Webb, of the Liberal Democrats, tried to log on on Monday but received a message saying his account had been disabled following complaints he didn't exist.

The news was particularly disconcerting for the 42-year-old because not only has he been a member of parliament for 10 years but he is also a keen promoter of online networking.

"I sent them an email asking what the problem was and got a response a day later saying they had concluded that my profile was a fake, that I wasn't really Steve Webb," Webb told Reuters.

"I was essentially accused of impersonating a member of parliament."

Within a few hours friends set up a Facebook group called "Steve Webb is real!" which attracted more than 200 members, and he and others contacted people who worked at the site.

A few hours later he received an apology and his profile was reactivated.

"I'm very sorry for the confusion here," the apology from Facebook read. "We received a report that indicated that this was an imposter account, but after further investigation, it is obviously real."