Anyone looking for Dorset Council on Facebook will be left disappointed after the page disappeared without warning.

The Council insists the page has not been hacked, but also can’t provide any explanation regarding its whereabouts.

The page has over 30,000 people on it, and contact has been made with Facebook’s owner Meta to work out what’s going on.

A statement from the Council, not posted on Facebook, says: “Last Thursday (15 June), the Dorset Council page (@DorsetCouncilUK) disappeared from Facebook without warning or explanation. Despite numerous attempts to resolve the issue with Meta, we have been unable to establish what the problem is and if/when it will be fixed. There is no evidence so far to indicate that the page was hacked, or subject to a malicious attack.

“Facebook is an important communications and engagement channel for Dorset Council, with over 33,000 followers on the page when it vanished. We will continue trying to find out more information from Meta in the hope the page will be restored as soon as possible. For now, we would like to remind everyone that our accounts on other social media platforms are unaffected and if people need to contact us they should use the Dorset Council website in the first instance.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

If you see the page, could you let the Council know via other methods.