Activists bombard the British Museum's social media with calls to return the Easter Island statue

(CNN) — he The British Museum It faces new calls to return the massive Moai statue to the world Easter IslandThis time it was sparked by a social media campaign by Chilean activists.

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui in the local language, is a Chilean dependency in the Pacific Ocean and is famous for the moai statues that dot its landscape.

Islanders carved massive Paleolithic structures into the shape of human heads to commemorate their ancestors, believing them to be embodiments of their deceased relatives.

Hua Hakananaya, or “Lost or Stolen Friend”, photographed at the British Museum in London Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Social media influencer Mike Melfort, who has 7.5 million followers on TikTok, made several posts about the British Museum's moai, a 2.4-metre-tall basalt statue known as Hoa Hakananai'a (“lost or stolen friend”), which was Taken without a license in 1868.

The campaign generated a torrent of comments on the British Museum's Instagram posts, many of which included the phrase “bring back the moai.”

In response, the museum has disabled comments on PublishedWhich was held in conjunction with the museum’s youth awareness program.

“Comments have been disabled on only one social media post,” a museum spokesperson told CNN in a statement on Monday. “We welcome the discussion, but it must be balanced with the need for protection considerations, especially when it comes to young people.”

Chilean President Gabriel Buric also mentioned the campaign in an interview with local radio station Radio Chiloé.

“The English should give us back the moai,” Buric said last month during a conversation about tourism in Chile.

According to the British Museum, approximately 887 moai were constructed between 1100 and 1600 AD.

Hua Hakanana statue, shown here in November 2018. Neil Hall/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The London Moai is one of 14 statues made of basalt. It was donated to the museum by Queen Victoria and received as a gift, and its weight is estimated at about 4.6 tons.

The social media campaign is the latest stage in efforts to bring him back to Easter Island.

In November 2018, the island's then governor urged the British Museum to return the statue, claiming that the English “have our soul”.

Tarita Alarcón Rabo has made a tearful appeal to the UK, expressing his hope for a loan agreement.

Then, in June 2019, a delegation from the museum traveled to Easter Island to discuss calls for the return of its famous artifacts.

Other initiatives involving Easter Island representatives took place at the British Museum in 2022 and 2023, a museum spokesperson told CNN.

Former governor of Easter Island, Tarita Alarcón Rabo, pictured during a visit to the British Museum in 2018. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

“We have good and open relations with our colleagues on Rapa Nui,” the spokesman said.

“These events have strengthened relationships with the community and laid the foundation for future cooperation,” they continued.

The British Museum, like other cultural institutions in the Western world, faces calls to return many artifacts to their original home.

In January, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London announced that they would return silver and gold artefacts looted from Ghana in the 19th century, after concluding a long-term loan deal.

Items related to the Ashanti royal court will be on display at the Manhya Palace Museum in Kumasi.