WA election: Social media is shaping the campaign in unexpected ways

Western Australia is just days away from early election polls opening and the political gloves are well and truly off.

The opportunity for a jab almost fell into the WA Liberal Party’s lap this week when Facebook introduced a nationwide ban on sharing news content.

Liberal leader Zak Kirkup’s own social media page was shut down for the better part of a day when it was caught up in the content purge.

Less than 24 hours later, his party’s Facebook page made a bold comparison.

“With total control this Mark shut down our access to news,” it said in a post next to a photograph of Facebook boss Mark…