The Post Office has been slammed after it was revealed the organisation’s social media accounts have been deleting, suppressing and blocking comments about serious concerns around compensation for subpostmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal.

At least two users, including a former subpostmaster, have been blocked by the Post Office’s social media account after posting comments calling the Horizon IT scandal “shameful” and urging faster compensation. Dozens more comments related to the scandal have since been deleted, it can be revealed.

The Post Office said it will make “further enquiries” into their social media accounts, but Sir Alan Bates, the founder of Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA), said it is “yet another example of the Post Office trying to control the narrative”.

“It comes as no surprise,” he added. “Manipulating the truth seems to be something the Post Office has shown it can excel in.”

One comment on TikTok – from an account that has since been blocked by the organisation – responded to a promotional video, now also deleted, titled, “How it feels when my suitcase is 0.1kg overweight”. The user wrote: “How I feel when I think of the subpostmasters who the Post Office didn’t think about.”

In response to a separate video titled, “She doesn’t know it yet, but she won’t drop off her returns tonight”, another user commented: “They don’t know it yet but hundreds of subpostmasters will be prosecuted for a crime they didn’t commit.” The comment was later deleted by the Post Office.

A fourth deleted comment said the Post Office is “embarrassing to try and protect your brand overcompensating subpostmasters”, with another user comparing the Horizon IT system to a scam.

Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton, who was left bankrupt by the scandal, stated that it is “odd” that the Post Office hasn’t appeared to “learn the lessons of their past painful mistakes”.

He said: “The only people trying to save the reputation of the Post Office are, by their very actions, the ones trashing it. In fact, those who really care and are trying to talk to the Post Office to do the right thing are the ones being silenced. The government and the Post Office will never ever learn the lessons of their past painful mistakes.”

Meanwhile, the @PostOffice account on X (formerly Twitter) has hidden multiple comments from a former subpostmaster who accused the organisation of being an “embarrassment” run by “corrupt individuals”.

Former postmaster Peter Murray said he was blocked on the Post Office’s Facebook page before the Horizon IT inquiry, which started in 2020, after voicing concern for victims like himself: “The Post Office is throwing absolutely everything at it to try to bury and deflect the Horizon scandal. They are just trying to protect themselves, and their actions on social media reflect a continued failure to understand the impact the scandal has had on people’s lives.”

MP Kate Osborne labelled the Post Office as a “disgrace” for “attempting to silence [subpostmasters] again by deleting comments from social media”, adding: “Sub-postmasters have been consistently silenced, disbelieved, falsely accused, dismissed and even imprisoned because of the actions of the Post Office. 

“It is a disgrace that they are attempting to silence them again by deleting comments from social media, showing they have still not learnt the lessons of the past and they are still refusing to be accountable for their actions.

“Victims of the Horizon Scandal deserve to be heard, cleared of all charges and receive full compensation. It’s time the Post Office stop attempting to silence its victims, take accountability for their actions and face their valid criticisms.”

Other criticisms of the Post Office’s handling of the scandal have been relegated to a “folded” section on TikTok, significantly limiting their visibility. Users must scroll to the bottom of the comment thread and take extra steps to manually expand the section to view them.

One folded message read: “Remember when you destroyed people’s lives by accusing them of theft even though you knew your system wasn’t reliable.” Another suppressed account added: “The subpostmasters deserve compensation!” Another commented: “Do you go down your TikToks deleting any mention of the HORIZON SCANDAL?”

This comes amid fury from Sir Alan Bates over the state of the compensation process itself, with him describing it as a “quasi-kangaroo court”. He said that he had received a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer worth less than half of his original claim, accusing the scheme of shifting the goalposts and treating sub-postmasters unfairly despite years of delay and suffering.

Bates led a group of 555 subpostmasters who took part in the 2918/19 landmark group legal action against the Post Office.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system indicated shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts, with many more forced to cover deficits which were caused by computer errors.

Former subpostmaster Heather Tingle said: “The Post Office seems to want to relegate the Horizon scandal to the depths of history as if it was so long ago… subpostmasters are often dismissed and deleted on social media and it looks like a swift move on, and everyone should forget about it.”

Janet Skinner, who had a wrongful conviction overturned in 2021, said: “The Post Office’s actions have been utterly appalling, and it’s clear that they’ve consistently prioritised their reputation and financial interests over the well-being of their postmasters. 

“The devastating impact on lives and livelihoods is a stark reminder of the human cost of their actions. The lack of compassion, accountability, and transparency is staggering. They show zero compassion towards any subpostmaster who is caught up in this scandal that they created. This is absolutely disgusting! Nothing the Post Office says or does surprises me anymore.”

The Post Office has said it will make “further enquiries”.

A spokesperson said: “We’re grateful for this matter being raised with us and will make further enquiries. It’s important to note that many of our social media posts feature new postmasters or postmasters that have only operated their branches for a few years and have not experienced matters relating to the Horizon IT scandal. We have a number of ways members of the public can contact the Post Office with their views on the scandal.”

Calum Greenhow, CEO at the National Federation of Subpostmasters said:  “What we know is that the Post Office of the past lied to postmasters and cheated postmasters. They were treated with a level of disrespect that was utterly unbelievable, and that treatment persisted for many years.

Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).

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