TASMANIA Police has confirmed that it had to find missing Launceston man Ben Plowright's Facebook log-in details using "other investigative measures" after not receiving any assistance from the social media site.
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Police on Wednesday accessed the Facebook account of Mr Plowright, who was last seen on foot leaving a house in the Perth area in the Northern Midlands on Saturday, May 30.
They posted a status on his wall at 11.26am saying: "This is Tasmania Police. We are currently accessing Ben's Facebook account and inbox messages."
Detective Inspector John King, of Launceston CIB, said police posted the status to put the minds of any of Mr Plowright's friends at ease if they had seen that his social media account was suddenly active.
He said they had received permission from Mr Plowright's family before posting the status.
Detective Inspector King on Wednesday said police had contacted Facebook, which is based in the US, to receive access to Mr Plowright's page, but had been unsuccessful in receiving a response.
No new information had come from the search of Mr Plowright's page on Wednesday, Detective Inspector King said.
The status provoked a strong response from Mr Plowright's Facebook friends.
Some were thankful for the police for being open with what was taking place, but others believed it was creating "false hope" to be in his account.
On Tuesday, police said they believed the 20-year-old might have tried to make his way from Perth to Launceston on the Midland Highway via the Breadalbane roundabout between 9.30pm and 11.30pm.
