Manurewa town centre with an inset of local board member Joseph Allan. Photo / Google
A local body politician has filed a formal code-of-conduct complaint with the Auckland Council, alleging a person connected to a rival political camp created fake Facebook accounts to harass and demean competitors.
An investigation is now under way. The complainant also took the matter to the police, but they say they are taking no further action.
The complainant is Joseph Allan, a member of the Manurewa Local Board. In the just-finished election, Allan stood as a ward councillor for Manurewa-Papakura, seeking to replace the retiring councillor, Angela Dalton. He also sought re-election to the local board.
Allan told the Herald he had been subject to “a sustained attack” over two-and-a-half years from Facebook accounts he believed had been created under assumed names by a man linked to a rival political camp.
He alleged the attacks targeted himself, other candidates, and “more recently, my family”.
He said alleged attacks were also aimed at other candidates he was associated with. Dalton was allegedly targeted by the false Facebook accounts, he said, and a post from October last year falsely accused another candidate of criminal behaviour.
He said this was “posted on a number of social media groups”. The post has since been deleted.
Allan filed his code-of-conduct complaint with the Auckland Council shortly before the election.
The council’s chief executive, Phil Wilson, confirmed he had received the complaint and that the mayor’s office had been informed.
Wilson said the details and process were confidential, but an investigation was under way.
Approached by the Herald, the man Allan believes is responsible for the posts said Allan’s team had “based their campaign on fake news”.
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On September 24, Allan put up his own Facebook post about the alleged attacks. They had started with “personal messages sent to our youngest female candidate”, he wrote, “escalating to unfounded accusations targeting our Pasifika candidates with increasing levels of aggression”.
The Herald has seen some of the abusive posts.
Allan said some of these posts were in the name of “Dave Johanson”. When he investigated, he discovered that Johanson had joined Facebook in 2010. But the account had the username “johan.johanson.2023”.
Allan said he was puzzled that an account set up years earlier would have the 2023 date in its username. He also thought it was odd that an account supposedly created in 2010 was not active until early 2023, following the council election in late 2022.
The Johanson account wasn’t the only one. Allan discovered another account in the name of “Dom Samson”, who had also joined Facebook on the same 2010 date but not become active until after the last election.
Allan suspects both accounts were fakes and were actually “additional profiles” on another account. He believes whoever set them up had not created them as fully separate accounts. The dates were the clue.
“Joined Facebook” date information doesn’t always mean what it says. It is intended to help “keep Facebook safe”. It does this with “additional profiles” by giving them the date that the main account holder joined Facebook.
That suggests “Dave Johanson” and “Dom Samson” didn’t join Facebook in 2010, but whoever created the accounts did.
Allan looked at the Facebook account of the man he claims made the harassing posts. He discovered that man had joined in 2010, on the same day noted on the Johanson and Samson accounts.
“What are the odds?” Allan asked.
The Johanson and Samson accounts did not limit themselves to targeting rival candidates. They also promoted a particular candidate, Allan claimed.
“They were very specific about building him up ... saying what a great guy he is.”
The Johanson and Samson accounts have since been deleted.
When the Herald approached the man, he did not directly deny that he was responsible for the posts, but provided a list of Facebook accounts to which he had access. It did not include the Johanson and Samson accounts.
In August, after seeing eight “abusive” posts that month, Allan filed a complaint with the police.
A police spokeswoman told the Herald they received a complaint relating to “misleading and threatening online behaviour” which 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,” the spokeswoman said.
As the Herald has reported, when Dalton retired at this election, she cited in-person and online “abuse” and “abrasive disagreements” with fellow Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman.
“It was affecting me so badly I felt like I was lying on the couch in a depression,” Dalton said in August.
She added that she had arranged for swipe-card access to the service elevator at the council building so she could keep away from Newman.
He declined to comment on her reasons for leaving politics, but said he felt unsafe around her.
Allan was unsuccessful with his bid to replace Dalton as a councillor but was re-elected to the board.
Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.
Michael Morrah won News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year at the New Zealand Television Awards. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.