By TeKāhu

Over the weekend, corporate telecom giant Spark NZ sparked fury when its social media team supported a radical transactivist’s call to suppress women voices on latest social media platform “Threads.”

Today, in an attempt to placate customers angered by the apparent political positioning to suppress pro-women perspectives, Spark NZ released the following Twitter:

We know there has been a lot of debate over the weekend, and we would like to provide more clarity on where we stand. pic.twitter.com/rKu0LSOJKw

— Spark NZ (@SparkNZ) July 9, 2023

Unfortunately, the seeming attempt to support controversial transactivist Shaneel Lal and yet claim to support women at the same time has not been as successful as perhaps desired.

Comments crossed well over a thousand posts in less than half a day, including:

This is what “not tolerating TERFs” can look like. https://t.co/llAIvTtK85

— Speak Up For Women (@SpeakUp4WomenNZ) July 10, 2023

The weekend debacle has now illuminated an unsettling truth on the values that Spark NZ claims to hold, that of ‘inclusion.’

A search through Spark NZ’s social media over the last three years displays reverence towards various topics.

Several examples include:

Ramadan, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Matariki, LGBTQIAP+, and ‘non-binary’ elements were found throughout the last three years, but there was one clear omission.

That of majority and traditional religion of New Zealand and New Zealanders:

Christianity.

While receiving more ideological attacks over the last several years, Christianity remains the major religion in New Zealand as well as the pillar of the nation’s culture. It is of some concern that, over the last three years, there are zero posts or celebrations of Christian holidays by Spark NZ, especially for Christmas and Easter.

The closest that Spark NZ came were the following:

Nothing about the Christian God, or activites, or holiday meanings in the same way that other ideologies are afforded.

Notably, the main ideology supported by way of post frequency appears to be LGBTQIAP+, specifically the so-called non-binary status.

Questions are being raised as to whether Spark NZ is now bigoted towards both women and Christianity.