VICTORIA -- A Twitter account claiming to be Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps was shut down after it launched in early October.
Helps deactivated her official Twitter account in July. At the time, she said that the account had devolved into a platform for criticism and hate, largely surrounding the homeless crisis in the city, even when her own posts were not relevant to the issue.
In early October, a fake Twitter account emerged that featured a picture of Helps with an Inner Harbour background that used the name “Lisa Helps – Victoria Mayor” and the mayor’s previous Twitter handle, @lisahelps.
The account posted provocative comments before it was suspended earlier this week. Helps says she was aware of the account and had been speaking with Twitter to try to have the account removed since Oct. 9.
On Wednesday, Helps told CTV News that she was concerned that someone would impersonate her on social media.
“It’s preposterous that someone can just so easily masquerade as an elected official,” she said.
In 2018, Helps deleted her Facebook account and described the social media giant as a “toxic, echo chamber where people who have anything positive to say are often in defense mode against negativity and anger.”
