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Local government, as with almost every walk of modern life, has found itself heavily impacted by social media.Every council has a presence on the likes of Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), recognising its value in reaching millions of users.Likewise, politicians on both the national and local stages have seized upon the opportunity to reach constituents and potential voters.A report by Solace's Standards Commission published this week found reports of ‘targeted harassment campaigns, eaten up capacity, and overwhelmed communications teams'.Leicestershire County Councillor Joseph Boam describes himself as part of a ‘new wave of councillors' with a major online presence – the Reform UK member's councillor X account alone has more than 40,000 followers.He tells The MJ: ‘It's a very important tool to have on your side and if you can build a following it can help with local politics – if there's a local issue I can "blow it up" a bit more.'Boam adds: ‘Having a big following doesn't come just from being a councillor, you have to address national issues.'But deputy chairman of Leicestershire Conservatives, Craig Smith, says social media has aided the spread of ‘inflammatory' language and ‘lies' resulting in the ‘destabilising of local government'.He says: ‘Politics has taken a huge turn for the worse and become a toxic environment since the 2025 elections.‘Previously, we respected one another. Very few complaints went through and it was a collaborative approach. Things have changed massively and it's detrimental to local government.'Smith sees strengthened standards as a means of tackling the issue.‘We have a strict code of conduct, but there's no teeth to the disciplinary process,' he says. ‘We have councillors who constantly break the rules.‘Monitoring officers should have more powers. We need national legislation – it's fairly easy to do.However, Boam argues the standards system has been misused for political purposes. He says: ‘We see a lot of the system being weaponised. Other Reform councils have enshrined freedom of speech in their constitution. There needs to be serious change where weaponisation can't happen.'A report by Solace's Standards Commission published this week found reports of ‘targeted harassment campaigns, eaten up capacity, and overwhelmed communications teams'.It highlighted the case of an AI-generated video of a political opponent being created and posted by a councillor, but he faced no consequences.The report stated: ‘While local government can do what it can to introduce its own codes of conduct and influence behaviours, if a space exists where individuals feel uninhibited and unconstrained to act badly, there is currently little recourse to be taken at the sector level to address it.'A key bone of contention has been the monetisation of social media, in which garnering views, likes and comments can generate income.Boam, who has received money from his social media activity, says: ‘It should be something that's encouraged more than discouraged. We are underpaid for the work. It's a very demanding job, we have to be on call 24 hours a day.If you can bring in money it can give you more time to commit to council work.'Smith says: ‘No member should be using their platform to launch a monetised social media account. My social media is there to inform residents – it can be used as a fantastic tool for communication. It shouldn't be as a secondary income.‘What I don't want to see is celebrity councillors.'Social media has been cited as playing a role in the rancour that has engulfed Basildon BC recently.Code of conduct complaints surged in 2025-26 to 72 compared to 11 the year before, with ‘a large number considered to be vexatious or politically motivated' according to a monitoring officer report. Then-chief executive Gary Jones even wrote to the Government over member behaviour.Former leader of Basildon, Gavin Callaghan, has now called for a ban on social media monetisation. He says: ‘Something has gone badly wrong when there is potentially a financial reward attached to making local politics angrier, nastier and more controversial.'He estimated a fellow councillor had earned £8,000 from his social media accounts.Callaghan says he has received money from his social media channels in the past, which was donated to charity, but he is now seeking a ban.‘I think it's a double-edged sword. It's an enormous vehicle for good in local government, but councillors are not paid a king's ransom and this is a quick way of doubling their income by rage-baiting.Callaghan says Labour is looking at adopting a ban on monetised social media as part of its vetting process, but it would require rule changes at next year's conference. However, he has advocated a national framework to cover all parties.‘Monitoring officers need to get their heads around this and get some joined-up thinking across the sector. There's no reason we couldn't make a stand and say this is unacceptable.'

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GOVERNANCE

Getting online back in line

By Martin Ford | 21 October 2026

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