In an apparent technical glitch, Facebook removed the “Boycott BP” page Monday evening leaving online activists scrambling for explanations and resurrecting what had been a movement that was beginning to go quiet. BP cannot be happy this morning. The oil giant just cannot catch a break, even when it looks like one is long overdue. One of its biggest nemeses, a social media-generated protest movement, suddenly went dark earlier this week, only to return with more strength than ever.

The incident comes two months into the oil spill saga that has turned BP into America’s Public Enemy No. 1, punting the likes of AIG, Goldman Sachs and Fannie and Freddie from that perch. Consumers and activists alike have joined up on such protest forums such as the Facebook Boycott BP page, a community with 750,000 members.

But while the boycott movement has remained strong over the entire period, the disabling incident on Monday has no doubt boosted overall online chatter, as seen on this Twitter measurement for “Boycott BP”:

But  has the incident managed to inspire new boycott agitators to join the movement? Exact numbers are unclear, but through an examination of wall posts we estimate the BP Boycott page has gained approximately 25,000 new members in the last 36 hours, its biggest surge in weeks. In fact, veterans of the page observed what a break they caught when Facebook inadvertently pulled the plug:

But what’s even more of a headache for BP is the already complex set of big-oil-profit conspiracy theories emerging in order to explain the sudden disappearance of the group. Of course, Facebook denies any sort of foul play in the glitch, but for anti-oil activists these ideas are like a sweet cherry on top of a super sundae, as it has deepened the skepticism of those participating in the Facebook page discussions:

BP already has a lot on its hands in terms of plugging the leak of oil in the gulf, but it’s clear that once it actually manages to do that it is going to have to deal with an even more unrelenting gusher online.