Hashtag to hit back at what activist calls media bias against Labour boss used 50,000 times, showing he does have backing

A Labour supporter who describes herself as a “lefty person of Northern origin” launched a bid to show the scale of support for beleagured Ed Miliband among party activists – and was astonished to get her attempt trending on Twitter.

At 7.39am on Saturday morning, @CharlieWoof81 and friend @jon_swindon called on their followers to use the hashtag #webacked from 6pm on Saturday – sending messages of support and pushing back against what the 33-year-old called biased reporting in the media.

That message was retweeted a modest 52 times but as the day unfolded – and it became clear that the negative headlines would continue in Sunday’s papers – tens of thousands of people took up the challenge, and by Sunday evening the #webacked hastag had been trending for almost 24 hours.

Gail (@CharlieWoof81) Don't forget guys (as if I would let you) pic.twitter.com/nlwqb5vh8i

@CharlieWoof81 – whose real name is Gail – told the Guardian: “We wanted to show the scale of support for Ed and Labour as we feel the press is on the whole biased and does not represent us or give us a platform. But we never imagined it would take off like it has … I think #webacked has been used more than 50,000 times now.”

The campaign may have caused embarrassment for some on Labour’s frontbench. At one stage on Saturday a list was circulating showing that only seven out of 23 shadow cabinet members had used the hashtag. Those who had not included Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper, Douglas Alexander and Andy Burnham.

But for Gail, who said she was a lifelong Labour supporter from the north-east of England, that was not the point. “This is not about politicians or the mainstream media. It was about giving Labour party activists and supporters a chance to show that we back Ed and we back Labour.”